Tomb workers bury coronavirus victims in Turin, Italy, on May 6. Stefano Guidi / Getty Images
The Covid-19 outbreak has been responsible for 159,000 excess deaths in 24 European countries since early March, European Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Hans Henri Kluge announced on Thursday.
Excess death is a term used to determine the number of deaths that occur in certain crises above and beyond what is expected under ‘normal’ conditions.
WHO lists 53 countries in the European region, including Russia and Turkey.
According to Kluge, there were more than two million confirmed Covid-19 cases and more than 175,000 confirmed deaths in the European region. Kluge said these death rates “are above and beyond what we normally expect at this time of year.”
Case information reported to WHO has revealed that 94% of all Covid-19 deaths are people aged over 60 years, and 59% of those deaths are men.
Of the total deaths, 97% of cases have at least one underlying health condition, with cardiovascular disease being the most common.
Kluge also gave an update on the current spread of the virus in Europe, saying that in the last 14 days cumulative cases in the region have increased by 15%, with the region still accounting for 38% of cases and 50% of deaths globally.
Russia, Britain, Belarus, Turkey and Italy are the countries that have reported the highest cumulative number of confirmed cases in the past two weeks, Kluge said. Spain, Italy, Britain and France continue to record 72% of all European Covid-19 deaths, he added.
As countries throughout the region continue to reduce restrictions, Kluge stressed that “there will be no economic recovery without Covid-19 transmission under control.”
“Our priority must be investing in health, investing in social protection and, above all, avoiding savings,” Kluge said.
He advised leaders to examine lessons from the 2008 financial crash, where many countries cut spending on health care.
