To decrease the impact of COVID-19, and related hospitalisations and mortality, countries should plan for a continued roll-out of COVID vaccines in 2023.
ECDC and WHO/Europe have issued a statement announcing that the European Region remains a long way from meeting its End Tuberculosis Strategy targets, despite having the tools to do so.
The situation regarding avian influenza continues to evolve in Europe and globally, with reports of new outbreaks in birds and occasional infections in mammals. Sporadic human infections have been reported in countries outside the EU, while the risk to the public in the EU remains low.
As of 3 March 2023, ECDC will de-escalate BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5 from its list of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC), as these parental lineages are no longer circulating.