Europe in the ‘eye of the storm’ of coronavirus, WHO warns, as countries begin to ease restrictions

The head of the World Health Organization’s Europe operations warned Thursday that the region is still in the “eye of the storm” that is coronavirus as European cases near 1 million.

The comments from Hans Kluge, the WHO’s European director, come as several European nations begin to ease some lockdown restrictions in their countries, while others are drawing up plans to soon reopen some businesses.

“Case numbers across the region continue to climb. In the past 10 days, the number of cases reported in Europe has nearly doubled to close to 1 million,” Mr. Kluge said during a virtual press briefing.

Just one day earlier, the number of global coronavirus cases topped 2 million, meaning that nearly half of the cases around the world are in Europe. More than 84,000 in Europe have died from the virus.

Five European countries — Italy, Spain, Germany, France and the U.K. — have some of the highest infection rates below the U.S., with Italy and Spain both having reported more than 160,000 cases each. Italy has reported over 21,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. While Spain is nearing 20,000 deaths.

Germany has reported more than 130,000 cases and 3,000 deaths, but it has been applauded by health experts for its early efforts to curb the severity of the spread.

“We remain in the eye of the storm,” Mr. Kluge said. “If you cannot ensure these criteria are in place before easing restrictions, I urge you to rethink.”

“There is no fast track back to normal,” he said.