Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a global outbreak of coronavirus – an infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Cases of novel coronavirus (nCoV) were first detected in China in December 2019, with the virus spreading rapidly to other countries across the world. This led WHO to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020 and to characterize the outbreak as a pandemic on 11 March 2020.

On 5 May 2023, more than three years into the pandemic, the WHO Emergency Committee on COVID-19 recommended to the Director-General, who accepted the recommendation, that given the disease was by now well established and ongoing, it no longer fit the definition of a PHEIC. This does not mean the pandemic itself is over, but the global emergency it caused is – for now. A review committee will be established to develop long-term, standing recommendations for countries on how to manage COVID-19 on an ongoing basis.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, over 2 million people in the European Region have died from the disease.

On 25 October 2023 WHO/Europe made several changes to its respiratory virus surveillance and data reporting systems. The COVID-19 Situation Dashboard played a pivotal role in providing essential information during the early stages of the pandemic. However, the landscape has now shifted, and so have data needs.

A new WHO/Europe COVID-19 Information Hub is replacing the previous COVID-19 Situation Dashboard to serve as a comprehensive resource, providing links to the most current health information, datasets and products concerning COVID-19.

Within the Hub, WHO/Europe and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)’s weekly European Respiratory Virus Surveillance Summary (ERVISS) displays integrated surveillance data for influenza, COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in the WHO European Region, including the European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA).