European Commission - Latest News Update, Information, Photos & Videos on European Commission at Lokmat Times

Amid the sudden increase in COVID-19 cases due to the emergence of the Omicron variant, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday said that the 27-nation bloc is facing another Christmas in pandemic mode."We are facing another Christmas in pandemic mode. But we are more prepared to fight the virus than ever. Over 66 per cent of Europeans have received two shots. And 62 million people already had their boosters, which is the best currently available protection against Omicron," said Leyen.During her speech in the European Parliament, the European Commission chief said that the region faces a double challenge."For one thing, we see that COVID-19 cases have increased rapidly in Europe. There are some Member States which have the highest rates of new infections they have ever had, and with that, of course, an increasing number of illnesses, an increasing burden on hospitals and we are lamenting an increase in the number of deaths," she said.Europe has so far reported 92,278,493 COVID-19 cases. In the past few weeks, there has been a surge of new cases due to the Omicron variant.The World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed that an 83 per cent surge in COVID-19 cases during the past week in Africa, driven by the Delta and Omicron variants, is causing fewer deaths than previous spikes.With the total number of recorded cases during the pandemic standing at 8.9 million, Africa recorded more than 196,000 new cases last week, up from around 107,000 in the previous week.WHO has said that the number of new cases is currently doubling every five days, the fastest rate this year. Although "the speed of the spread is fast, deaths remain low and even dropped by 19 per cent last week compared with the previous week", the UN health agency reported.Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa said they are cautiously optimistic that deaths and severe illness will remain low in the current wave, but slow vaccine rollout in Africa means both will be much higher than they should be.Speaking during a virtual press conference, Dr. Moeti added that knowing that new variants could regularly emerge to spark new outbreaks globally, "vaccine-deprived regions like Africa would be especially vulnerable".( With inputs from ANI )Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

European CommissionFOLLOW

European commission, Latest News

Brussels, Jan 18 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that she had cancelled her appointments at ... ...

Paris, Jan 8 French President Emmanuel Macron met here on Friday with European Commission President Ursula von der ... ...

Brussels, Jan 7 The European Union (EU) is on track to meet its pledge of sharing 700 million ... ...

The European Union is ready to impose more sanctions on Russia if it acts aggressively toward Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has warned. ...

Brussels, Dec 22 The European Union (EU) digital Covid-19 certificate will only be valid for travel for nine ... ...

Brussels, Dec 20 The member states of the European Union (EU) will receive an additional 20 million doses ... ...

Brussels, Dec 18 The European Commission put forward proposals to ensure timely supply of medicines to Northern Ireland ... ...

Amid the sudden increase in COVID-19 cases due to the emergence of the Omicron variant, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday said that the 27-nation bloc is facing another Christmas in pandemic mode. ...