OREANDA-NEWS. The World Health Organization (WHO) has predicted the spread of a more contagious Indian strain of coronavirus in Europe. This was stated by the Director of the WHO Regional Office for Europe Hans Kluge during a briefing, which was broadcast on the organization's Twitter.

Known as the "delta variant," this type of coronavirus has already supplanted other strains in a number of countries, Kluge said. The WHO representative stressed that this strain of the virus is of particular concern to specialists because of its greater infectiousness and the ability to infect even those who have immunity.

Kluge urged not to take the virus lightly and not repeat the mistakes of last year. “We have already gone through this. In the summer of last year, cases of the disease gradually increased in younger age groups, then moved to older age groups, which led to a devastating outbreak, lockdown and the death of many people in the fall and winter of 2020,” he stressed.

Earlier, WHO allowed the spread of the Indian strain of coronavirus in dozens of countries. The spread of the B.1.617 strain has been officially confirmed in at least 53 countries. In addition, unofficial data obtained by the organization indicate that this type of coronavirus has been detected in seven more countries.