COPENHAGEN: The World Well being Organisation’s (WHO) European workplace on Tuesday referred to as for increased vaccination efforts in Eastern Europe, warning that the Omicron “tidal wave” was heading eastwards.

The WHO’s regional director, Hans Kluge, famous that in the final two weeks, COVID-19 circumstances had greater than doubled in six international locations — Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine.

“As anticipated, the Omicron wave is moving east. Ten eastern member states have now detected this variant,” Kluge mentioned.

The WHO’s European area includes 53 international locations, together with a number of in central Asia.

Kluge lamented that vaccine uptake was nonetheless comparatively gradual in elements of the area.

Lower than 40% of over-60s have accomplished their COVID-19 vaccine sequence in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

He added that in Bulgaria, Georgia and North Macedonia underneath 40% of well being care employees had obtained a minimum of one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

“I call on governments, health authorities, and relevant partners to closely examine the local reasons influencing lower vaccine demand and acceptance, and devise tailored interventions to increase vaccination rates urgently, based on the context-specific evidence,” Kluge mentioned.

He careworn that in the face of an “Omicron tidal wave”, and “with Delta still circulating widely in the east”, now was “not the moment to lift measures that we know work in reducing the spread of COVID-19”.

These measures embody avoiding crowded areas, sporting masks indoors, bettering air flow, and utilizing speedy assessments to determine circumstances early, Kluge added.