BRUSSELS—A Covid-19 infection wave driven by two hyper-infectious Omicron subvariants is moving rapidly across Europe, leading to an uptick in cases and hospitalizations in countries that have dropped the majority of preventive measures against the virus ahead of the summer months.
European governments have discarded many Covid-19 mitigation strategies like mask mandates, mass testing and so-called Covid passports as their focus shifts to economic recovery and the war in Ukraine. A recent survey by McKinsey shows that fewer than 12% of the public in Germany, France, the U.K., Italy and Spain count the pandemic as a primary concern.
Scientists don’t expect that the wave of infections will lead to the high death tolls seen before vaccine rollouts. But they are concerned that public and national health systems are ill-prepared for fall and winter waves that some predict could see double the current infection figures.
“We’re going to have a health-service meltdown” in the fall, said
Tim Spector,
an epidemiologist at King’s College London.
The World Health Organization is urging government action at a time when many want to see the pandemic behind them.
“For us to become complacent this far into a pandemic, when we have so many tools that actually work—we really need to fight against that,”
Maria van Kerkhove,
the Covid-19 technical lead at the WHO, said last month.
“And without testing, without sequencing, without these public-health measures in place, we’re really playing with fire because we know that this virus continues to evolve,” she said.
The 14-day case rate was up 28% last week to 921 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people across the European Union and the European Economic Area. Infections among those over 65 years were up nearly 32%, though deaths overall declined in most countries.
Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport at the start of July. Travel restrictions due to Covid-19 have largely ended in Europe but the virus continues to spread.
Photo:
Sean Gallup/Getty Images
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