The European Commission has said that between 60% and 80% of the EU population is estimated to have been infected with Covid-19, as the bloc enters a post-emergency phase in which mass reporting of cases is no longer necessary.
In preparing for this less acute phase, EU governments should ramp up Covid-19 immunisations of children, the bloc's executive body has said, signalling it was considering plans to develop antivirals. "It is estimated that between 60% to 80% of the EU population has by now had Covid," EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides told a news conference.
The EU public health agency said reported cases had covered about 30% of the European population so far, but if unreported infections were added, cases could be as high as 350 million - about 77% of the European population.
With a recent drop in infections and deaths linked to Covid-19, the EU is now shifting away from mass testing and reporting of cases, Ms Kyriakides said.