WHO, ECDC call for enhanced efforts to prevent Delta transmission

The Delta variant is moving fast across Europe based on surveillance data collected between June 28 and July 11, the two world bodies said in a joint statement released on Friday.

"Based on current trends, the Delta variant will be the globally dominant strain over the coming months and has already been identified in almost all European countries.

"It will continue to spread, displacing the circulation of other variants unless a new, more competitive virus emerges," Xinhua news agency quoted the statement saying.

Hans Kluge, regional director of WHO Europe, said that "we are seeing a significant rise in cases associated with the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant."

He warned that despite tremendous efforts to inoculate people, millions more remain unvaccinated and therefore at risk of ending up in hospital.

The WHO official reiterated that receiving a full vaccination series significantly reduces the risk of severe disease and death.

"When called to do so, people should get vaccinated."

Both organisations noted that intensive implementation of the current public health measures, including increased access to testing, will be required to control Covid-19 transmission, particularly while the progress of vaccination is still not sufficiently high in many countries.

"We need to remain vigilant and continue to use common sense to prevent the spread of the virus," Andrea Ammon, ECDC director, said in the statement.

She called on people to get fully vaccinated as soon as the opportunity arises, maintain physical distancing, wash hands, avoid crowded spaces and wear a mask when necessary.

New Covid-19 cases have been increasing for the past month in Europe, and notification rates have also increased across all age groups, most rapidly among 15 to 24-year-olds, where a fivefold increase in reported cases has been observed over the period, according to WHO Europe.

The WHO recommends countries increase access to free testing, expand sequencing, incentivize quarantine for contacts and isolation for confirmed cases, strengthen contact tracing to break chains of transmission, and ensure that "those most at risk among our populations are vaccinated".