WHO Warns of a New COVID Outbreak in 53 European and Central Asian Nations

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as many as 53 countries in Europe and Central Asia are facing a “real threat” of a resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic in the coming weeks or are already dealing with a new wave of infections exacerbated by the more transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus.

“We are at a critical juncture in the pandemic’s return. “We are back in the epicenter of the pandemic, where we were a year ago,” WHO Europe Director Hans Kluge told reporters from the WHO’s Copenhagen headquarters. Case counts are nearing record levels again, according to Kluge, and the rate of transmission in the region, which spans as far east as the former Soviet countries of Central Asia, is “gravely concerning.”

According to WHO Europe, the region witnessed over 1.8 million new weekly Covid-19 cases, up around 6% from the preceding week, and 24,000 deaths in the same time period, up 12%.