Europe Is at Center of New Wave of Covid Infections, WHO Says

Europe is at the center of a resurgence in Covid-19 infections as more people mix at large-scale events and travel, according to the World Health Organization. 

“We are seeing a much more intense wave of the disease passing through Europe again,” Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, said at a media briefing Wednesday. “And we will see it happen elsewhere -- we are already seeing it in South East Asia and in the eastern Mediterranean region as well.”

Overall, the number of Covid infections rose 30% globally in the past two weeks, with the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 driving the increase in Europe and the US. The agency said it was also following a new sublineage of subvariant BA2.75 which had been detected in India. 

The increase in cases in Europe during the summer -- when transmission should be more difficult because people are outside -- results from people swapping one kind of mixing for another, such as attending large concerts and traveling more, Ryan said.  

The new wave of infections isn’t yet leading to a surge in intensive-care admissions or a serious increase in the number of deaths, as a result of vaccine protection. ...

The WHO said countries should ensure their “immunological walls” remained strong, providing booster shots as necessary to vulnerable individuals, maintaining surveillance measures, introducing antivirals and using tried and tested countermeasures to reduce the chances for transmission.

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