On Thursday, a top World Health Organization official warned of a “very serious situation” stemming from a resurgence of the coronavirus in Europe, with case counts swinging upward after having been under control for much of the summer.

“More than half of European countries have reported a greater than 10 percent increase in the past two weeks,” Hans Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe, told reporters at a briefing. The caseload in seven countries has doubled in the past two weeks, he said.

“Although these numbers reflect more comprehensive testing, it also shows alarming rates of transmission across the region,” Kluge said. The rising numbers, he said, should serve as a “wake-up call for all of us.” For now, he said, the bulk of the increase has been among younger, generally more resilient portions of Europe’s population, but numbers for older and more vulnerable people are also increasing.

But even in countries where hospitalization rates are rising rapidly, measures imposed this week have largely been smaller in scale and more targeted than …continued .
[Source: Washington Post]