The COVID-19 pandemic has had a “catastrophic impact” on people with cancer over the past two years, as up to 50 percent of cancer services were disrupted last year, WHO Europe Director Hans Kluge said Thursday. Kluge made the comments to reporters via a virtual press briefing one day before World Cancer Day, an international awareness day led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). “Tomorrow is World Cancer Day, and I want to take the opportunity to underscore the catastrophic impact the pandemic has had over the past 2 years on people with cancer,” Kluge said. “The impact of COVID-19 indeed goes far beyond the disease itself. Cancer touches all our lives, either directly or through its effect on family and loved ones. 1 in 4 people in Europe and Central Asia will receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. It is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in the WHO European Region, accounting …