The biggest daily rise in COVID-19 cases in recent months has been seen in Western European countries, which could disrupt people’s summer plans.
The increase in cases of the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 has prompted calls for increased caution across Europe, which has relaxed almost all coronavirus restrictions.
“As countries across the European region have lifted the social measures that were previously in place, the virus will transmit at high levels over the summer,” said Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, the World Health Organization’s Regional Director for Europe, said in a recent remark.
Kluge said the latest COVID-19 increase has a similar pattern as seen in the last two summers and that the spread is down to two factors — “the spread of a new variant, this time the sub-lineages of omicron called BA.4 and BA.5, and increased travel, gatherings and events held over the summer months.”
He pointed out that we should be worried about any increases seen in COVID-19 activity in Europe and that this is “a stark reminder that we are not yet out of the woods” and that “increasing incidence in people who are at risk of severe COVID-19 will lead to increased hospitalizations, more disruption to essential health services, and unfortunately may lead to excess deaths.”
“High population immunity and the choices made to lower risk to older people are key to preventing further deaths this summer,” said Kluge.
The first resurgence has been seen in Portugal, where BA.5 cases hit almost 30,000 a day earlier this month.
In the meantime, Italy has announced that it will keep quarantine rules in place following weeks of disagreement within the government and among health experts.
The country has seen a rise in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations with a 60% hike in new infections in just seven days.
The UK is also going through its third major wave of COVID-19 infections, and according to figures which came out last week, more than 1.7 million people were estimated to have been infected, a 43% jump from the previous week.
Germany is expecting a fourth COVID-19 wave in the coming days, with the omicron sub- lineage becoming the dominant variant in the country.
In France, meanwhile, over 50,000 new cases on average are being reported every day, with the country set to review prolonging its COVID pass for international travel in and out of France until March 31, 2023.
Kluge said the latest increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in Europe is a confirmation that the pandemic is not over and that the “WHO continues to emphasize the importance of testing and surveillance so that we can track the virus, its spread and evolution.”
He stressed that this information and analyses remain “critical to effectively end the acute phase” of the pandemic.
