The World Health Organization (WHO) has said Covid cases were on the rise again in Europe after two months of decline and warned a new wave would come "unless we remain disciplined."
"Last week, the number of cases rose by 10%, driven by increased mixing, travel, gatherings and easing of social restrictions," WHO's regional director for Europe Hans Kluge told a press conference.
"There will be a new wave in the WHO European Region unless we remain disciplined," he added.
Dr Kluge cautioned this reversal came in the context of rising cases of the Delta variant, first spotted in India, which the regional director said "overtakes Alpha very quickly," referring to the variant that first emerged in Britain.
A report by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control estimated the more contagious Delta variant could account for 90% of new cases in the European Union by the end of August.
Dr Kluge also said that the Delta variant could become the dominant strain in WHO's European region, which is made up by 53 countries and territories - including several in Central Asia - by August.
The regional director said that the vaccine rollout was nowhere near where it needed to be to offer the necessary protection.
Vaccines have been shown to also protect against the Delta variant, but a high level of protection requires two doses.
Dr Kluge said that the average vaccine coverage in the WHO's European region was 24%, and half of elderly people and 40% of healthcare workers were still unprotected.
"That is unacceptable, and that is far from the recommended 80% coverage of the adult population," he said.
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Impact of Euro 2020 highlighted
WHO officials have also pointed to the impact of the Euro 2020 football tournament on the current spread of the disease across the continent.
The tournament is being held across numerous different cities, including London, Glasgow, St Petersburg, Munich, Rome and Budapest.
"We need to look much beyond just the stadiums themselves," WHO's senior emergency officer, Catherine Smallwood, told reporters.
"We need to look at how people get there, are they travelling in large crowded convoys of buses? And when they leave the stadiums, are they going into crowded bars and pubs to watch the matches?
"It is these small continuous events that are driving the spread of the virus," Ms Smallwood said.
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, meanwhile, called a decision by European soccer's governing body UEFA to allow big crowds at Euro 2020 "utterly irresponsible".
UEFA said in a statement to Reuters that mitigation measures at host venues "are fully aligned with the regulations set out by the competent local public health authorities".
