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Covid vaccines in use in Europe appear to protect against all new variants but progress in region remains “fragile” and international travel should be avoided to prevent pockets of transmission quickly spreading into “dangerous resurgences”, the World Health Organization has said.
Weekly official cases in Europe have fallen by almost 60% from 1.7m in mid-April to nearly 685,000 last week with deaths also in decline, the WHO regional director, Hans Kluge, said on Thursday, but incidence rates remained stubbornly high in eight countries.
“The pandemic is not over yet,” Kluge said. “Increased mobility and interactions may lead to more transmission … In the face of a continued threat and new uncertainty we need to exercise caution and rethink or avoid international travel.”
European leaders should “not make the same mistakes that were made this time last year that resulted in a resurgence of Covid-19 and saw health systems, communities and economies once again bear the full force of the pandemic,” he said.
Kluge said the B.1.617 variant first identified in India had been identified in at least 26 of the region’s 53 countries, with most cases linked to international travel but onward transmission also now occurring.
“We are still learning about the new variant, but it is able to spread rapidly and displace the B.1.1.7 lineage [first identified in the UK] that has now become the dominant lineage in Europe,” he said.
Kluge said vaccines were effective against the new strain, with all variants that have so far emerged responding to “available, approved vaccines”. But since only 23% of people in the region have received a vaccine dose and only 11% have had both, governments and citizens must continue to exercise caution.
RandyMarsh
Article URL : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/20/covid-still-a-threat-to-europe-travel-should-be-avoided-says-who