WHO Report: European Nations Had Most COVID-19 Cases, Deaths This Last Week

FILE – In this April 15, 2020 file photo, the logo and building of the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The U.N. health agency says Europe stood out as the only major region worldwide to report an increase in both coronavirus cases and deaths over the last week, with double-digit percentage increases in each. The World Health Organization said Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021 that cases in its 53-country European region, which includes former Soviet republics in Central Asia, recorded an 18% increase in COVID-19 cases over the last week. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP, file)

In WHO’s weekly epidemiological report on COVID-19, Europe saw a 14% increase in virus-related deaths. That amounted to more than 1.6 million new cases and over 21,000 new deaths.

The World Health Organization said new COVID-19 cases in its 53-country European region, which stretches as far east as former Soviet republics in Central Asia, recorded an 18% increase in COVID-19 cases over the last week

WHO officials have pointed to a number of factors for Europe’s virus woes, including relatively low rates of vaccination in some countries in Eastern Europe. Countries including Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Georgia had some of the highest rates of infection per 100,000 people in the last week.

– Ella Breedlove