A spike in coronavirus infections and a slump in vaccination uptake is holding back Europe’s effort to curb the pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned. The WHO’s Europe director, Hans Kluge, said a recent increase in Covid-19 cases and deaths was “deeply worrying”. He blamed the more infectious Delta variant, the easing of restrictions and summer travel. Mr Kluge predicted Europe could record another 236,000 deaths by December. The WHO says the region has recorded more than 65 million confirmed cases and 1.3 million deaths since the start of the pandemic. Covid infections across Europe declined in April but started to creep back up again at the end of June.(BBC)…[+]