Europe’s COVID cases showed more signs of rising last week, marking the first regionwide spike since the most recent BA.5 wave, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said today in a weekly update.
In the past, increasing cases in Europe have come ahead of similar rises in other regions, so trends in Europe are a closely watched global indicator.
Seniors hit hardest in Europe
Cases in people ages 65 and older rose 9% compared to the previous week, which the ECDC said was led by recent increases in 14 of 26 countries in the European Union that reported data. Deaths continued a decreasing trend.
Generally, hospitalization and intensive care unit (ICU) markers were stable in the region, but of 27 reporting countries, 14 noted an increasing trend. The ECDC said the overall picture is that increasing transmission in the majority of countries is mainly affecting seniors, which is in turn impacting hospitals.
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