Several European countries, including Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, have lifted their anti-COVID measures too “brutally” and find themselves faced with a sharp rise in cases under the effect of the subvariant BA.2, the World Health Organization lamented on Tuesday.
During a press conference relocated to Moldova, the director of the WHO in Europe, Hans Kluge, said he was “vigilant” about the epidemic situation on the continent, while claiming to remain “optimistic”. The number of COVID cases is on the rise in 18 of the 53 countries in the zone, according to the health organization.
“Countries where we see a particular rise are the UK, Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, France, Italy and Germany,” Kluge said. “These countries have lifted the restrictions abruptly, from ‘too much’ to ‘not enough’,” said the UN official.
According to WHO data, the number of new cases in Europe had fallen sharply after peaking in late January, but it has been rebounding since early March. According to epidemiologists, this rebound is explained in particular by the predominance of the sub-variant of Omicron BA.2, approximately 30% more contagious – but not more dangerous – than its predecessor, BA.1.
Over the past seven days, more than 5.1 million new cases and 12,496 deaths have been recorded in the WHO Europe area, bringing the total number of cases detected since the start of the pandemic to nearly 194.4 million and the number of deaths to more than 1.92 million.
The fifth wave observed in Europe does not end and experts point to the “casualness” of politicians across Europe, already accused of having lifted their guard too quickly during previous waves.
Living with COVID
On the positive side, “there is a very large capital of immunity […], whether through vaccination or infections,” noted Kluge. Then, “winter is ending, so people will gather less in small confined spaces”.
And finally the Omicron variant “is less virulent in people fully vaccinated with a booster dose”, even if “in countries with low vaccination, it is still a disease that kills”, pointed out Mr. Kluge. “We’re going to have to live with COVID for a while yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get rid of the pandemic,” he said.
It is therefore a question of focusing on four priorities, according to him: “protecting the vulnerable”, “strengthening surveillance and sequencing”, “providing more countries with access to new antiviral drugs” and “addressing to the burden of the post-COVID syndrome”.