WHO expects ‘high levels’ of coronavirus this summer in Europe

The World Health Organization (WHO) told AFP on Thursday it expects “high levels” of coronavirus this summer in Europe and urged to monitor the virus closely after a tripling of daily cases in the past month.

“As countries across Europe have lifted social measures that were in place, the virus will circulate at high levels over the summer,” said the UN organization’s Director for Europe, Hans Kluge.

“The virus isn’t going to go away just because countries stop monitoring it. It continues to contaminate, it continues to change and it still kills,” he said in a written statement.

After nearly 4,000 to 5,000 deaths per day for much of the winter, the death toll remains at a low level of around 500, its level in the summer of 2020.