European countries, including the UK, Germany and France, lifted their Covid-19 restrictions “too brutally” and are now struggling with rising cases again as the highly transmissible BA.2 variant spreads, according to the European head of the World Health Organization.

Hans Kluge told reporters at a briefing in Moldova that he is “optimistic but vigilant” about the pandemic in Europe, where cases are rising in 18 out of the 53 countries that constitute the WHO’s region, which includes certain former Soviet republics that are more often deemed to be part of Asia.