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Covid: Czechia third in Europe for number of new infections

Cases up everywhere, including in the Balkans

03 March, 10:19
(by Stefano Giantin) (ANSA) - BELGRADE, MAR 3 - After France (more than 149,000 cases) and Italy (ca. 112,000), the Czech Republic was the country in Europe reporting the highest number of new infections, more than 82,000, in the week ending February 28, show data from the latest epidemiological update of the World Health Organization (WHO). Last week a strong increase in cases was generally observed in Central- and Eastern Europe as a whole.

With the country recording one of the highest infection rates in the world and more than 20,000 total deaths, Czechia turned to Russia to request the supply of the Sputnik V jab. "Vaccines have no ideology," Czech president Milos Zeman said, adding that Prague would also welcome the Chinese Sinopharm while waiting for vaccines procured by the EU. After Hungary, other nations in Central- and Eastern Europe, including Slovakia, which received the first Sputnik doses on Monday, and Austria are now looking East for vaccines.

According to the WHO epidemiological update, a total of 432,726 new COVID-19 cases (+26,3% compared to last week) and 9,351 new deaths (-0.8% week-on-week) were reported by the countries in the Balkans and in Central- and Eastern Europe to the World Health Organization (WHO) through February 28, bringing the cumulative total of cases to 11,354,204 and of deaths to 265,589.

According to WHO data, in the past week the countries across Central- and Eastern Europe that reported more new cases were Czechia (82321), Poland (68219), Germany (55777), Ukraine (43393), Hungary (25576), Serbia (22328), and Romania (21888).

The countries across the region that reported more new deaths last week were Germany (2204), Poland (1598), Czechia (1125), Ukraine (879), Slovakia (684), Hungary (675) and Romania (492).

In Central- and Eastern Europe, the highest number of deaths from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic were reported in Germany (70045), Poland 43769), Ukraine (25982), Czechia (20339), Romania (20287), Hungary (14974) and Bulgaria (10167).

Slovenia remains the country in the region with the highest ratio between deaths and population, with 198 cumulative deaths per 100,000 population, compared to 161 in Italy, followed by Czechia (190), Montenegro (159), Hungary and Bosnia-Herzegovina (155), North Macedonia (150) and Bulgaria (146).

In Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania and in the Western Balkans (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Albania) 2,419,903 confirmed cumulative cases (+83,380) and 57,092 total deaths (+1,416) were registered as of February 28.

According to official data collected by the portal Our World in Data, updated as of March 1st, Serbia (with 21.1 doses per 100 people) is second in Europe after the United Kingdom (31.07) and before Malta (18.03) for COVID-19 vaccination doses administered per 100 people. In Central- and Eastern Europe, the countries that are vaccinating at the fastest pace are Hungary (10.09), Lithuania (8.99), Poland (8.94) and Greece (8.84), against 7.2 in Italy. (ANSA).

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