Europe could see "another half a million Covid deaths" by February: WHO

The rising number of cases of Covid-19 in Europe is of "grave concern" and the region could see another half a million deaths by early next year, the World Health Organization warned on Thursday.

"The current pace of transmission across the 53 countries of the European Region is of grave concern," WHO Europe director Hans Kluge told a press conference, adding that one reliable projection would mean "another half a million COVID-19 deaths," by February if the current trajectory continued.

The WHO's European Region spans 53 countries and territories and includes several nations in Central Asia.