Eastern Europe becomes new COVID-19 hotspot as infections surge
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Amid the rising number of cases, Polish PM Morawiecki asked citizens not to travel during Christmas as the country reported 574 deaths in 24 hours
As Europe grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, eastern Europe has become the new hotspot in the fight against the virus with the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and several other countries dominating the infection rates despite lockdown measures.
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According to reports, eastern Europe reported over 82,000 cases in a one day an average last week with 1,500 daily fatalities. Europe has so far reported over 15 million coronavirus cases with over 346,000 deaths.
Europe is the worst-hit region with the virus with 264,100 daily COVID-19 cases surpassing the US and Canada which averaged 172,200 coronavirus cases per day.
Amid the rising number of cases, Polish PM Morawiecki asked citizens not to travel during Christmas as the country reported 574 deaths in 24 hours on Saturday with the number of daily infections rising to 24,213.
"Poles have weapons, they are discipline, solidarity. We have 100 days of solidarity ahead of us. At the end of this period, it is likely that a vaccine will appear," Morawiecki said, adding,"whether Poland will be able to find itself able to adopt less stringent restrictions will depend on whether or not Poles obey the rules."
Poland has imposed strict lockdown measures which is set to continue till after Christmas. Hungary had earlier extended state of emergency until February with COVID-19-related deaths and infections surging since September.
According to the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC), Hungary has fourth-highest coronavirus death rate per million in the continent after the Czech Republic, Belgium and Bulgaria.