Copenhagen (AFP)

As Europe launches its health pass in the hope of reviving tourism, the WHO announced Thursday that the coronavirus was progressing again on the continent and warned of a risk of a new wave of the pandemic carried by the Delta variant.

In Asia, Bangladesh has been subject to containment since Thursday and restrictions are announced for Saturday in Indonesia, in the face of a strong wave of infections.

As several European countries appeared to be seeing the end of the tunnel and gradually lifting their restrictions, the European branch of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that the number of Covid-19 cases had increased by 10% last week in the region, which has 53 territories, "due to increased mixing, travel, gatherings and the easing of social restrictions."

"There will be a new wave in the European region, unless we stay disciplined," he warned.

WHO Europe expects the Delta variant of the coronavirus, initially spotted in India and particularly contagious, to become "dominant" by August on the continent.

The German Minister of Health, Jens Spahn, for his part warned Thursday that the variant Delta would represent from this month "70% to 80%" of the infections in his country, insisting once again on the need to be vaccinated .

The European Medicines Agency (EMA), however, brought a reassuring note, announcing that two doses of the vaccine appeared to protect against the Delta variant.

The WHO has also recommended that the host cities of the last matches of the Euro football ensure better monitoring of the movement of spectators, including before their arrival and after their departure from the stadium.

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"We need to look well beyond the stadiums themselves," said Catherine Smallwood, an official for the European branch of the WHO, when asked about recommendations in the face of rising cases in London and St. Petersburg.

The British capital is due to host the semi-finals and the final of the tournament next week, and the second Russian city will be the scene of the quarter-final between Switzerland and Spain on Friday.

- Army deployed in Bangladesh -

In Russia, where the epidemic is experiencing an outbreak with the Delta variant, the government on Thursday recorded a new peak of 672 deaths from Covid-19 in 24 hours.

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The capital Moscow, the main focus of the epidemic in Russia, and St. Petersburg recorded 108 and 115 new deaths respectively, levels still close to their own records set earlier this week.

These concerns for Europe are expressed as a "health pass", now essential for travel to 33 countries of the continent, comes into force Thursday for travelers in the European Union.

The EU hopes to revive tourism, despite uneven vaccination campaigns and the threat of the Delta variant, while this industry has been damaged by the pandemic.

According to the UN, the collapse of international tourism could lead to a loss of more than $ 4 trillion in global GDP over 2020 and 2021.

In Asia too, the resurgence of the pandemic is worrying the authorities of some countries.

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Bangladesh thus begins a strict confinement of one week on Thursday to contain the progression of the Covid-19.

The army has been deployed to enforce it, as the government worries about a "worrying and dangerous" increase in the number of cases, blamed on the Delta variant.

Hospitals are overwhelmed, especially in the border regions of India.

- Emergency restrictions in Indonesia -

In Indonesia, President Joko Widodo on Thursday announced that the country will impose "emergency restrictions" this week, as the country's health system nears breakdown.

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These will be applied from Saturday and until July 20 in the capital Jakarta, the island of Java and that of Bali, the most affected by the epidemic.

New cases have reached record highs in recent weeks in the Southeast Asian archipelago, at 21,000 per day.

In Thailand, a country which is trying like the EU to revive its bloodless tourism industry, the first international travelers landed on the island of Phuket on Thursday morning, despite a third epidemic wave in the kingdom.

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High hopes have been placed in what the government has dubbed the "Phuket sandbox," a model that allows fully vaccinated travelers to stay there without going through quarantine.

The coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 3.949 million people worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP from official sources on Thursday.

burx-slb / sg

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