WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Medium-term fiscal consolidation and growth will put Europe on a sound footing to avoid another sovereign debt crisis despite rising debt levels caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday. Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, speaking remotely from Washington, told an event hosted by Bocconi University and the T20 group of think tanks that Europe was more fit to avoid another debt crisis such as the one faced by Greece in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2007–08. But she said countries would have to plan carefully how to shift course to medium-term fiscal consolidation to erase the increased pandemic-related debt burden. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal and David Lawder)