WHO Europe warns of COVID rise in east, like Russia, Ukraine

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization’s Europe office says it is turning its attention to growing rates of COVID-19 infection in eastern Europe. Six countries including Russia and Ukraine have seen a doubling in case counts over the last two weeks amid the omicron surge. Dr. Hans Kluge said Tuesday that the 53-country region has now tallied more than 165 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 1.8 million deaths linked to the pandemic including 25,000 in the last week alone. But omicron is milder than previous variants and health care systems in most countries around the world aren’t under strain.