In Germany, close to 34 thousand cases of Covid-19 were recorded in the last 24 hours. This was the highest number since the beginning of the pandemic. Many countries in Europe are also facing new peaks in the number of cases and deaths.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn said it was a “pandemic of the unvaccinated”.
There are 16 million unvaccinated people in Germany.
The occupancy rate in the hospitals has not reached the level of the spring months.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also warned that 500,000 more people could die from the coronavirus in Europe by February.
Hans Kluge, the organisation’s European Director, said this will be due to those who are not vaccinated.
To date, 1.4 million Covid-19 deaths have been recorded in the European region of the WHO, which includes some former Soviet countries in Central Asia.
WHO’s Maria Van Kerkhove said in the past four weeks, cases on the continent have increased by 55 percent despite the large number of vaccines available.
Mike Ryan from WHO added that what is happening in Europe is a warning to the whole world.
Health officials in Germany are worried that the large increase in cases will increase the death toll and the occupancy rate in hospitals.
165 people died in the country in the last 24 hours. That number was 126 a week ago.
The biggest risk is the fact that 3 million people over the age of 60 have not yet been vaccinated in Germany.
Restaurants and cafes in the country can be entered with a certificate of vaccination or illness. It is also possible to enter some places with a negative test result.
Other countries in Europe are also experiencing a new peak in Covid-19 cases.
Over the past week, more than 8,100 deaths from Covid-19 were recorded in Russia and more than 3,800 in Ukraine.
Vaccination rates are very low in both countries.
The number of people who lost their lives in one day in Romania broke a record with 591 this week.
The Dutch government also announced that they will bring back measures such as mask requirement and social distance in some places due to the 31 percent increase in hospitalizations in a week.
In Hungary, the number of daily cases doubled in a week to 6,268.
Croatia broke an all-time record with 6,310 cases on Thursday.
In Slovakia, the number of daily cases reached its second highest peak to date, while in Czechia it rose to spring levels.
Latvia has announced that it will introduce state of emergency measures for three months from Monday.