The European branch of the World Health Organization announced in a Tuesday memo that COVID-19 cases have tripled across the continent within the past six weeks, representing nearly half of all global infections.
Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, proclaimed in the July 19 release that it is “abundantly clear” Europe is faced with a similar situation presented last summer – “only this time the ongoing COVID-19 wave is being propelled by sub-lineages of the Omicron variant, notably BA.2 and BA.5, with each dominant sub-lineage of Omicron showing clear transmission advantages over the previously circulating viruses.”
The 53 countries within the region in question have reported nearly 3 million new positive cases of COVID-19 last week, and are averaging around 3,000 related deaths each week.
The growing number of hospitalizations once again threaten to disrupt an already strained health system in many European nations.
“With rising cases, we’re also seeing a rise in hospitalizations, which are only set to increase further in the autumn and winter months,” Kluge remarked. “This forecast presents a huge challenge to the health workforce in country after country, already under enormous pressure dealing with unrelenting crises since 2020.”
Across the pond, it is clear that many Americans have begun to accept that COVID-19 may be here to stay – as evidenced by the public’s response to the latest variant and growing commonality of re-infections.
The latest installment of the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index returned that 46% of respondents said they personally had, or suspected they had, COVID at one point since the start of the pandemic.
Additionally some 78% of respondents agreed with the statement: "We will never fully be rid of the coronavirus in my lifetime."
"People are focused on making ends meet. The virus has become a part of day-to-day life, it’s just a given,” said Cliff Young, president of Ipsos US Public Affairs, as reported by Axios.
The Axios/Ipsos poll was conducted between July 15 and July 18, and was based on the responses of a sample of 1,155 adults aged 18 or older.