Some 36 million people have suffered from prolonged COVID in Europe

COVID-19 has ceased to be a global public health emergency and the general population has ceased to feel threatened by the coronavirus; however, the disease has not disappeared and continues to cause deaths, triggering other illnesses and causing other damage in millions of patients when it transforms into long-term COVID, warned this Tuesday the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO regional director for Europe reported that only in that continent, COVID causes about a thousand deaths a weekalthough he clarified that this figure may be below reality since countries have stopped regularly reporting these deaths to the UN health agency.

Hans Henri Kluge recalled that COVID-19 also triggered an epidemic of non-communicable diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and chronic lung diseases, adding that these diseases are the cause of 75% of mortality in Europe.

Not much is known about COVID yet

The health expert stressed that COVID continues to be a complex condition about which very little is still known and to illustrate it, he cited that in Europe almost 36 million people would have suffered prolonged COVID in the first three years of the pandemic.

“That’s about one in 30 Europeans. One in 30 who may still have a hard time getting back to their normal life. The one in 30 who may be suffering in silence and being left behind while others overcome the disease,” she said.

Kluge indicated that the WHO is working to raise awareness of this difficult condition, but stressed that a lot of work is still needed to understand it.

“The prolonged COVID continues to be a blind spot in our knowledge that we must urgently clear up,” he emphasized, explaining that as long as comprehensive diagnoses and treatments for the disease are not developed, it will not be possible to speak of a real recovery from the pandemic.

In this sense, he called for more research work and urged people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, in addition to stressing that It is a condition that requires guaranteeing comprehensive health and social care for all patients.

The importance of the vaccine

But ultimately the best way to avoid prolonged COVID is to avoid COVID-19he pointed out, insisting on the need to vaccinate vulnerable populations, the elderly, people with underlying medical conditions and those with autoimmune diseases.

“We should guarantee a vaccination coverage of at least 70% for these groups, including primary and additional booster doses,” he specified.

After affirming that COVID-19 continues disproportionately affecting the weakest and most vulnerableargued that simple solutions can help reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases and combat the next pandemic, when it arrives.

“Those of us who have the means and the opportunity can, for example, do 25 minutes of moderate exercise a day, stop smoking, reduce alcohol consumption and limit salt intake,” he said.

mpox resurgence

In a video message, Kluge also discussed the recent resurgence in mpox infections in the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

He referred that the European region documented 22 new cases in Maya number that although it seems low, shows that the virus continues to circulate on the continent, especially affecting men who have sex with men, “and we could see a resurgence,” he warned.

To stop the spread of the virus, urged risk groups to get vaccinatedto limit contact with people who have symptoms, and to avoid close physical contact, including sexual contact, with someone who has mpox.

Kluge emphasized that countries must protect of the mpox to all people at risk, without any type of discrimination.

The WHO regional director for Europe ended his statement by calling on European countries to change collective approaches, to allocate sufficient resources and to strengthen behaviors at the individual level with respect to three health emergencies: COVID-19, mpox and the extreme heat that devastates the region.