United Kingdom authorizes the use of antiviral Molnupiravir 1:03
(CNN) -
Europe is facing a potentially devastating winter that could see half a million people die from COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Thursday.
The WHO raised the alarm about an increase in cases and lamented the faltering vaccination in parts of the continent.
Much of Europe is battling spikes in infections, with Germany on Thursday reporting its highest number of new cases a day since the pandemic began.
And in a dire new warning, WHO regional director Hans Kluge said the rate of transmission in the region was "very worrying."
"We are, once again, at the epicenter," Kluge said in a statement.
A worker disinfects Moscow's Belorussky train station last month.
Russia is battling its worst increase in covid-19 cases since the pandemic began.
"According to a reliable projection, if we stay on this trajectory, we could see another half a million deaths from covid-19 in Europe and Central Asia by February 1 of next year," he warned.
And he added that 43 of the 53 countries in his plot could also see high or extreme pressure in hospital beds.
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Large parts of the continent are struggling to stem the waves of the delta variant, which has complicated the relaxation of restrictions in many countries.
Eastern Europe is particularly affected;
Cases are at record levels in Russia and now Germany, while Ukraine's capital Kiev introduced new strict restrictions on Monday.
Many experts have expressed concern that a further increase in infections, coupled with seasonal winter colds, could put healthcare workers under unmanageable pressure during Christmas and the New Year.
In its latest weekly update, the WHO said Europe recorded a 6% increase in cases in the previous week.
That was the highest increase of any region in the world, while the other regions register "declines or stable trends."
"We are at another critical point in the resurgence of the pandemic," Kluge said.
He blamed two factors for the new wave;
the relaxation of covid-19 measures and the lack of vaccination coverage in the Balkans and towards the east of the continent.
"Hospitalization rates in countries with low vaccine absorption are notably higher and increasing faster than in those with higher absorption," he said.
A waiter checks a customer's covid-19 health pass in France.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn warned Wednesday that stricter measures are needed for those who refuse to get vaccinated.
Spahn also told reporters at a press conference on Thursday that he was asked for his vaccination certificate in Rome during the G20 more often in a single day than in Germany in four weeks.
He was responding to a dramatic increase in infections in the country;
33,949 new cases were registered Thursday, breaking the previous record set in December 2020. Hospitalizations and deaths remain much lower than at that pre-vaccine peak.
Spahn said Germany was experiencing a "massive" pandemic of unvaccinated people, adding: "The truth is that there would be far fewer COVID-19 patients in [intensive care] if everyone who could get vaccinated."
The UK has also been enduring a stubborn streak of new infections since late summer, but has resisted implementing measures like mask mandates or vaccine passes that have become commonplace across Europe.
The world passed a milestone of 5 million deaths from covid-19 since the start of the pandemic on Monday, a mark that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called "a new painful threshold."
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