Europe is once again the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic amid a “false sense of security” over the protection offered by vaccines, World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

WHO officials warned that the SARS-CoV-2 virus would keep spreading intensely as societies return to the social mixing and mobility of a pre-pandemic period in the run-up to the year-end holidays, Reuters reported.

Last week, more than 60 per cent of all reported cases and deaths from Covid-19 globally were in Europe, Tedros told a news conference.

“In many countries and communities, we are concerned about a false sense of security that vaccines have ended the pandemic, and that people who are vaccinated do not need to take any other precautions,” he said.