ECDC and EMA have issued a joint statement on adapted COVID-19 vaccines and considerations for their use during the upcoming autumn 2023 vaccination campaigns.

See all information on COVID-19, situation updates, risk assessments, questions and answers, latest evidence, surveillance and laboratory guidance and how to protect yourself and others.

This issue of the ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) covers the period 28 May – 3 June 2023 and includes updates on COVID-19, West Nile virus, Legionnaires’ disease, avian influenza, Marburg virus disease, cholera, and fungal meningitis.

COVID-19 is a disease under surveillance in the European Union (EU) and must be reported by all Member States.

Well-designed, representative sentinel surveillance systems in primary and secondary care remain the core surveillance method for acute viral respiratory infections.

COVID-19 disease is caused by a virus of the coronavirus family, SARS-CoV-2, in the order of nidovirales.

Symptoms may vary, both in frequency and severity, depending on the SARS-CoV-2 variant causing the disease episode.

A person can become infected through the inhalation of respiratory droplets from an infected individual or through direct contact with infected droplets through the eyes, mouth, or nose.

Most SARS-CoV-2 infections do not require hospitalisation or medical treatment and can be managed at home or in outpatient settings.

Public health authorities can take several measures to mitigate the negative effects of COVID-19 at individual and community or population level.