ECDC publishes ‘Considerations for the use of face masks in the community in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant of concern’, a document which updates and complements ‘Using face masks in the community: first update - Effectiveness in reducing transmission of COVID-19’.
Considering the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of concern (VOC), ECDC is proposing options regarding quarantine and isolation, and recommendations that can be adapted and implemented by EU/EEA Member States when resources are limited and when there is high pressure on healthcare systems and other functions in society (e.g. staff shortage and reduced resources).
In the week commencing 13 December, the number of flu cases (caused by the influenza virus) detected in the WHO European Region was above what we would normally expect to find in the population for the second week in a row, which indicates the so-called flu season epidemic has started.
There are still risks for outbreaks of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) in EU/EEA countries despite high vaccination rates among residents and staff, reveals a new ECDC study published in Eurosurveillance.
A webinar on post-COVID-19 condition in children jointly organised by the ECDC and the European Society of Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID) took place on 10 November 2021.
As of 2 December 2021, and since 1 December 2021, 20 additional SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VOC cases have been confirmed, bringing the total to 79 confirmed cases.
On 1 December 2021, Andrea Ammon, Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control ECDC and Jenny Harries, Chief Executive of the Health Security Agency of the United Kingdom UKHSA, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed to strengthen the collaboration between the two agencies on matters of communicable diseases prevention and control.
Recent modelling scenarios run by ECDC indicate that the potential burden of disease in the EU/EEA from the Delta variant will be very high in December and January unless public health measures are applied now in combination with continued efforts to increase vaccine uptake in the total population.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has published the first update of the technical report Options for the use of rapid antigen detection tests for COVID-19 in the EU/EEA, originally released in November 2020.
EU/EEA countries that have not yet achieved high enough COVID-19 vaccination coverage in their total populations, which are planning to relax non-pharmaceutical interventions during the next two weeks, run a high risk of experiencing a significant surge of cases, hospitalisations and mortality from now until the end of November.