COVID cases in Eastern Europe near 20m as outbreak worsens

Three of the top five countries reporting the most deaths in the world – Russia, Ukraine and Romania – are in Eastern Europe.

Coronavirus cases in Eastern Europe have surpassed 20 million, according to a Reuters tally on Sunday, as the region grapples with its worst outbreak since the pandemic started and inoculation efforts lag.

Hungary tops the region’s vaccination rates with 62 percent of its population having received at least one shot, whereas Ukraine has given just 19 percent of its residents a single dose, according to Our World in Data.

Although it has just four percent of the world’s population, Eastern Europe accounts for roughly 20 percent of all new cases reported globally.

According to a Reuters analysis, three of the top five countries reporting the most deaths in the world are in Eastern Europe – Russia, Ukraine and Romania.

More social gathering indoors after the lifting of restrictions just as winter sets in is driving a rise in COVID-19 infections in many countries across Europe, the World Health Organization’s emergency director Mike Ryan said on Thursday.

More than 40 percent of all new cases reported in Eastern Europe were in Russia, with 120 people testing positive every five minutes, according to a Reuters analysis.

So far, Russia has vaccinated about 36 percent of its population with one vaccine shot.

The country has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the EU, with just over half the adult population fully inoculated in the country of 5.5 million.