The head of the World Health Organisation-s Europe office said the exponential surge of coronavirus cases across the continent has warranted the restrictive measures being taken across the continent, calling them "absolutely necessary" to stop the pandemic. Record daily infection figures in Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, Poland and elsewhere added to fears on Thursday that Europe is running out of chances to control its latest coronavirus outbreak.

Need more drastic steps

In a press briefing on Thursday, Dr Hans Kluge warned that even more drastic steps might be needed in such "unprecedented times." He called for countries and their citizens to be "uncompromising" in their attempts to control the virus and said most of the COVID-19 spread is happening in homes, indoor spaces and in communities not complying with protection measures. He said the coronavirus is now the 5th-leading cause of death in Europe and noted the region recently surpassed the threshold of reporting 8,000 deaths per day. Kluge cited epidemiological models that suggested if 95 per cent of people wear masks and other physical distancing measures are applied, Europe could avoid about 281,000 deaths by February. But he warned that relaxing measures could lead to a five-fold increase in deaths by January.