ECDC epidemiological map shows almost all of EU in red or dark red zone

The latest epidemiological map issued by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) shows the increase of cases across the European Union and the European Economic Area, as most of it is now in the red and deep red zones.

Cyprus remains in the red category for another week.

The ECDC map does not record the number of deaths or hospitalisations, or the levels of vaccination, but only the number of new cases per 100,000 people over the past 14 days.

After the rapid rise in cases over the past few weeks, only some areas in France, Spain and Sweden, as well as Malta and most areas in Italy, remain in the orange zone.

Meanwhile, the “deep red” category now includes Greece, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Republic of Ireland and Iceland.

The red zone includes Cyprus, Romania (where there has been a slight improvement compared to last week), Bulgaria (where the epidemiological situation is also improved), Portugal, Finland and Norway (where some areas are in the deep red category).

France, Spain and Sweden are also mostly in the red category.

Red zone areas are defined as those where the 14-day cumulative Covid-19 case rate ranges from 75 to 200 and the test positivity is 4 per cent or more, or the 14-day cumulative Covid-19 case rate is more than 200 but less than 500 (when the cumulative rate exceeds 500 the area enters the deep red zone).

ECDC publishes relevant maps and data every Thursday.