Infections are surging in Europe in recently months as the Omicron variant is spreading fast. Europe has recorded over 100 million coronavirus cases, more than a third of all infections worldwide, since the start of the pandemic two years ago. 4.9 million cases were confirmed over the past seven days.  France alone has recorded more than one million new cases over the past week, which is equivalent to 10% of all positive cases it has announced since the start of the pandemic.

Countries with the highest ratio of infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the world were all in Europe. Denmark scored worst with 2,045 infections, followed by Cyprus with 1,969 and Ireland with 1,964. But a good sign is that COVID-19 deaths there are slowing down.