WHO warns "too early to ease up" from COVID-19 lockdowns in Europe

The World Health Organization's European director Hans Kluge said on Thursday COVID-19 transmission rates in Europe remained too high, putting health services under severe strain, and therefore it was "too early to ease up".

"We need to be patient, it will take time to vaccinate," he told an online briefing. "We have learned harsh lessons - opening and closing, and reopening (societies) rapidly is a poor strategy" in seeking to curb coronavirus contagion, he said.