Denmark and Austria became the latest countries to ease Covid-19 restrictions, following similar moves by Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands, while other countries in Europe planned new measures to battle record numbers of infections.

The European region as a whole no longer accounts for half or more than half of global deaths and infections, according to Reuters Covid-19 data, but the numbers remain high, with particular concern in countries with lower vaccination rates.

Germany, Poland, Hungary, the Czech republic, Bulgaria and Romania all reported record daily infection totals on Wednesday and the German parliament prepared to debate proposals to either require or robustly encourage residents to be vaccinated.