The World Health Organization says the recent decline in the number of new coronavirus infections throughout Europe “has come to an end.”
Hans Kluge, the director of the U.N. health agency’s Europe region, said Thursday during a news briefing in Copenhagen that the number of cases in the area’s 53 countries rose 10 percent last week.
Kluge attributed the rise to “increased mixing, travel, gatherings, and easing of social restrictions,” which he said is taking place amid “a rapidly evolving situation” — the emergence of the more transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus, a situation aggravated by the regions slow rate of vaccinations. The coronavirus causes the COVID-19 disease.
With more than 60 percent of all people still waiting for at least their first shot of COVID-19 vaccine, and with the relaxed restrictions on travel and “social mixing,” Kluge warned the European region will be “Delta dominant” by August.
“Delays in getting vaccinated cost lives and economies, and the slower we vaccinate, the more variants will emerge,” he told reporters.
The warning from WHO Europe comes as Russia reported another record-setting 672 COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, breaking the record of 659 deaths posted just the day before. Russia has posted 5.4 million cases since the start of the pandemic, including 132,973 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced Thursday that new emergency measures will go into effect on Saturday for the islands of Java and Bali to blunt the rise of new cases in the world’s fourth most-populous country.
The measures, which include tighter restrictions on movement and air travel, a ban on restaurant dining and the closure of non-essential offices, will last through July 20, a period that includes the Muslim holiday of Eid.
Indonesia has been dealing with the worst coronavirus outbreak in Southeast Asia, posting 24,836 new infections and 504 deaths on Thursday, both of them record-setting numbers. The country has recorded more than 2.1 million coronavirus infections, including 58,491 deaths.
Johns Hopkins University is now reporting 182.2 million confirmed coronavirus infections, including 3.9 million deaths. The United States remains the global leader in both categories with 33.6 million overall cases and 604,718 deaths.