Several European countries, including Germany, France, Italy and Britain, lifted their Covid-19 curbs too “brutally” and are now seeing a rise in cases likely due to the more transmissible BA.2 variant, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said, according to AFP.

WHO Europe director Hans Kluge told a press conference in Moldova that he was “optimistic but vigilant” about the pandemic's development in Europe.

Covid-19 is on the rise in 18 out of 53 countries in the WHO European region, he said.

“The countries where we see a particular increase are the United Kingdom, Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, France, Italy and Germany”.