The UK and its neighbouring nations in continental Europe are still fighting off the Covid pandemic. Although vaccination programmes have quickly gathered steam, tens of thousands of people are still contracting the disease, and hundreds more are dying. Recent data has demonstrated exactly which countries have struggled to bear the load and where the UK stands among them.
Where are Covid hotspots in Europe?
Europe served as a jumping-off point for Covid, which entered the continent via Italy before leaping to the Americas.
That was more than a year ago, and countries on the continent still rank amongst the most profoundly affected.
The European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) monitors each country within the EU and EEA, and its data reveals which nations continue to struggle with cases.
Officials have produced data on case totals, deaths and weekly surveillance.
Weekly breakdowns come with a total infection rate for a given nation, with cases reported every two weeks broken into three-figure rates that depict numbers affected per 100,000 people.
The worst affected nation, according to these rates, is Lithuania, which has nearly 800 infections per 100,000 people, while Poland is at the bottom with 34.
The UK, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is amongst the top 10 worst-off.
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The most successful countries – among them tourist hotspots Italy and Spain – have an array of measures.
Only 10 countries of the 31 observed by the ECDC had Covid rates lower than 100 per 100,000 people.
They include:
- Poland: 34.91
- Malta: 44.12
- Spain: 63.10
- Liechtenstein: 67.10
- Hungary: 68.02
- Czechia: 72.41
- Italy: 77.00
- Sweden: 82.75
- Portugal: 87.29
- Denmark: 94.42