The World Health Organisation's European branch has said more needed to be done to deal with the alarming situation brought on by recently discovered variants of the novel coronavirus.

The WHO's regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, called the current situation “a tipping point in the course of the pandemic”, according to AFP.

While the new year “brings with it new opportunities and tools”, such as vaccines, Europe is also challenged by surging cases and new strains of the virus causing Covid-19.

“This is an alarming situation, which means that for a short period of time we need to do more than we have done and to intensify the public health and social measures to be certain we can flatten the steep vertical line in some countries,” Kluge said, referring primarily to the new variant first discovered in the UK.