Cyprus remains in the deep red category for another week, while in the same category are now all the regions of the countries of Western Europe, according to the epidemiological data for its spread. COVID-19, recorded by the map of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) which was published on Thursday.
Compared to last week, however, the situation appears to have improved marginally in some Eastern and Central European countries, although its spread has increased. COVID-19 maintains the majority of countries in the red and deep red category.
It is noted that this map does not record deaths or serious illnesses, nor vaccination levels, but only the number of new cases in the last 14 days per 100 thousand population. It is also not recorded how many cases are due to the Omicron variant.
Now Spain is in its entirety in the deep red category. The situation has worsened in Italy, where some areas were in the orange category last week. This week southern Italy and Sardinia are in the red category and northern Italy in the deep red category. Malta also moved from the red to the deep red category.
At the same time, from the deep red to the red category passed Latvia, much of western and southern Germany, as well as regions of eastern Hungary, almost all of Austria, some more regions of eastern Poland and Thrace in eastern Greece.
Cyprus remains for another week in the deep red category. Portugal, France, Ireland, Iceland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Croatia also remain in the deep red category.
Bulgaria remains in the red category as well as most regions in Norway, Sweden and Finland.
For another week, the epidemiological situation in Romania is the best in the European Union and the European Economic Area, as most areas are in the orange category, with southwestern Romania in the green, or safe, category. However, the capital Bucharest is in the red category.
The orange zone is defined as the countries or regions where the total number of new cases in the previous 14 days is between less than 50 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants, and the percentage of positive tests exceeds 4%, or where the total number of new cases is between 50 and 75 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants and the percentage of positive tests exceeds 1% or where the total number of new cases is between 75 and 200 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants and the percentage of positive tests is less than 4%.
The red zone is defined as the countries or regions where the total number of new cases in the previous 14 days is between 75 and 200 per 100 thousand inhabitants, and the percentage of positive tests exceeds 4%, and if the number of new cases is below 500 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants (at which point the country goes into the "deep red" category).
The map and related data are published by the ECDC every Thursday, supporting the efforts made on the basis of a relevant EU Council proposal to coordinate pandemic restrictions due to the pandemic. The maps are based on the latest data in the database sent by Member States to the European Monitoring System (TESSy) until midnight on Tuesday.