The Covid-19 epidemic has caused an additional 159,000 deaths in 24 European countries since early March, European Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Hans Henri Kluge announced on Thursday.
Excess death is a term used to define the number of deaths occurring in a given crisis beyond what would have been expected under "normal" conditions.
The WHO lists 53 countries in its Europe region, including Russia and Turkey.
According to Kluge, there have been more than two million confirmed cases of Covid-19 and more than 175,000 confirmed deaths in the European region. Kluge said the deaths are "beyond what we would normally expect at this time of the year."
Information on cases reported to WHO revealed that 94% of all Covid-19-related deaths were people over the age of 60 and 59% of these deaths were men.
Of the total deaths, 97% of the cases had at least one underlying health problem, with cardiovascular disease being the most common.
Kluge also took stock of the current spread of the virus in Europe, saying that over the past 14 days, cumulative cases in the region have increased by 15%, the region still accounting for 38% of cases and 50% of deaths. in the world.
Russia, the United Kingdom, Belarus, Turkey and Italy are the countries that reported the highest cumulative number of confirmed cases in the past two weeks, said Kluge. Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom and France continue to account for 72% of all European deaths from Covid-19, he added.
As countries in the region continue to loosen restrictions, Kluge stressed that "there can be no economic recovery without controlling the Covid-19 transmission."
"Our priority must be to invest in health, to invest in social protection and, above all, to avoid austerity," said Kluge.
He advised leaders to consider the lessons of the 2008 financial crash, where many countries have cut health spending.