WHO Official Urges Caution as Nations Reopen

The World Health Organization’s regional director for Europe urged caution Thursday, as 36 of the region’s 53 countries begin to ease COVID-19 restrictions, saying the continent’s vaccination rate is insufficient to prevent a resurgence.

At a virtual briefing from his headquarters in Copenhagen, WHO Europe Director Hans Kluge acknowledged current pandemic numbers are headed in the right direction, with two consecutive months of decline in new cases, deaths, and hospitalizations. But Kluge cautioned that the highly transmissible Delta variant strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 – originally identified in India -   is “poised to take hold,” in the region, while many people above the age of 60 remain unvaccinated. The WHO Europe director noted that cases were declining at this time last year, only to surge again.