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Weekly new cases of coronavirus in Europe have surpassed the numbers reported when the pandemic peaked in March, the World Health Organization said.
Speaking on Thursday, WHO regional director Hans Kluge said 300,000 new infections were reported last week alone.
“We have a very serious situation before us,” he said.
Some European countries, including the UK and France, have posted their highest daily counts in months.
Testing capacity has increased across Europe since the pandemic began, meaning that cases are now more likely to be identified and recorded.
But Kluge said the new figures also showed “alarming transmission rates in the region.”
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Hospital admissions and deaths have yet to see a similar increase, although Spain and France are experiencing an upward trend.
While younger people, who are less likely to be severely affected if infected, currently make up the largest proportion of recently recorded coronavirus cases, there are fears that there will be many more cases of serious illness if the virus spreads to groups. older and more vulnerable.
According to the WHO, there have been five million confirmed cases and more than 228,000 deaths across Europe since the pandemic began.
‘Wake up call’
Kluge said in Thursday’s briefing that lockdown measures introduced in the spring and early summer had produced clear results.
“In June, the cases reached a record low,” he said. “The September case numbers, however, should serve as a wake-up call for all of us.”
But he stressed that knowledge about the best ways to contain the virus has improved since the pandemic first spread to Europe.
“We have fought it before and we can fight again,” he said.
Earlier this week, Kluge warned that Europe should prepare for an increase in the number of coronavirus deaths in October and November, warning: “It’s going to get more difficult.”
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France, meanwhile, recorded 10,593 cases Thursday, the highest daily number since the pandemic began.
The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, acknowledged that the coronavirus “is once again very active”; Lyon and Nice, two of France’s largest cities, have until Saturday to propose new measures to address their outbreaks.
Véran and Prime Minister Jean Castex are among several ministers facing legal action for their handling of the crisis.
Other countries are seeing their own peaks:
- Spain on Wednesday it recorded 239 new deaths from coronavirus, the highest number since June. Many of the country’s new infections have occurred in the capital, Madrid, where authorities plan to announce new lockdown measures.
- the Czech Republic has reported more than 2,000 daily cases for the first time. The country’s prime minister asked people to follow the rules to avoid an exponential increase in infections.
- Cases have also reached a new daily peak in The Netherlands, and the government is expected to announce new measures against the coronavirus on Friday
