Western Balkans see highest COVID deaths per 100,000 globally

BELGRADE, Serbia

Balkan countries are placed among the top 10 in COVID-19 fatalities per 100,000 people, according to the data-tracking Johns Hopkins University.

The region also continue to register a record number of the increased number of novel coronavirus cases.

With 630.38 deaths per million, Peru tops the list, followed by Bulgaria with 473.31, Bosnia and Herzegovina with 431.48, Hungary 421.20, Montenegro 408.43, and North Macedonia 398.95, Croatia 334.97 fatalities.

Bulgaria has so far recorded ABOUT 923,466 cases and 33,017 deaths. More than 90% of hospitalized patients in the country are not vaccinated.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the number of COVID-19 cases reached 341,913, with 2,632 new cases, the number of deaths due to COVID-19 reached 14,243

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the rate of those who received the full dose of vaccine increased to 26 percent

Hungary has so far recorded 1,490,489 cases and 41,151 deaths with 19,213 in a single day.

Montenegro's Ministry of Health said that the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country is 217.000, the number of deaths is 2,541, the rate of those who have received a full dose of vaccine is 44.6 percent and the number of newly registered cases in the past 24 hours is 906.

North Macedonia registered 263,206 total cases with 8,312 deaths.

The European Union member country, Croatia has 13,625 total deaths, while the total number of cases reached 909,674 with 10,500 new cases in the past 24 hours.

The rate of the fully vaccinated also reached 54.4%.

Serbia on Friday with 36,737 new active COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours has registered a new record number.

In the country, the total number of cases has reached 1,616,584 while the death toll is 13,417.

About 46.9 percent of the people in Serbia are fully vaccinated.

Authorities in these countries have recently raised the capacities of hospitals and introduced mandatory vaccination cards as the fourth wave of the pandemic hit the region.

Experts believe that low vaccination rates are among the main causes of high fatality rates.