The number of Covid-19 cases in Eastern Europe surpassed 10 million on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, as countries across the region aim to increase vaccine procurements from multiple suppliers to accelerate inoculation programmes.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Eastern Europe next week to discuss US troops dislocation out of Germany, news wires reported. He will travel to Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Austria on a weeklong trip starting 11 August that is expected to also focus on limiting Chinese influence.

Coronavirus pandemic will seriously hit Eastern Europe, the EU’s fastest-growing region since the first quarter of the year, with experts forecasting it faces the worst recession since the fall of the, Bloomberg reported. While the region so far averted the record downturns suffered by big western European states, the shutdown of factories, shops and services hammered company profits and drove unemployment higher.

Compared to the West, Eastern Europe so far stays well in the coronavirus pandemic. The highest numbers of infections are in the Czech Republic and Poland, with 2,866 cases and 1,905 cases respectively, still a fraction of the numbers in most western European countries. Partly this is due to the lockdown measures introduced at an early stage in the outbreak, but also to a much lower testing rate than in the West, news wires reported.