WHO officials criticized Europe’s vaccination efforts as dangerously slow.

Europe must keep restrictions amid rising cases, officials say

European nations’ immunization campaigns against COVID-19 are “unacceptably slow” and risk prolonging the pandemic, a World Health Organization official said Thursday.

Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO’S regional director for Europe, said vaccines “present our best way out of this pandemic” but noted that to date only 10 percent of Europe’s population has received one dose and that only 4 percent have been fully protected with two doses.

“As long as coverage remains low, we need to apply the same public health and social measures as we have in the past, to compensate for delayed schedules,” Kluge said.

Even those numbers hide the true scope of the problems facing the European Union’s 27 nations, where only about 5.6 percent of its people have had a first vaccine shot, according to the bloc. In Britain, that figure is 46 percent of its population.

Kluge warned European governments against having “a false sense of security” for having started their immunization campaigns. He noted that Europe remains the second-most affected region in the world in new coronavirus infections and deaths.

WHO said new COVID-19 infections are increasing in every age group except those over 80, in a sign that vaccination efforts are having an impact in slowing outbreaks. But the U.N. health agency said “early action” to stop the virus’ spread must be taken in the absence of high immunization rates.

Faced with rising hospitalizations that were overwhelming hospitals in Paris and elsewhere, French President Emmanuel Macron imposed new measures to combat a resurgence of the virus, including a threeweek school closure and a domestic travel ban.

WHO said that there were 1.6 million new cases and nearly 24,000 deaths in its European region last week. The 27-nation European Union has counted over 612,000 virus-related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, and if other nations such as Britain, Russia, Switzerland and others are counted, Europe has seen over 928,000 virus deaths during the pandemic.

“The region’s situation is more worrying than we have seen in several months,” said Dr. Dorit Nitzan,

WHO Europe’s emergency manager, who warned people not to travel or gather in large groups over the coming religious holidays.

“Many countries are introducing new measures that are necessary and everyone should follow as much as they can,” Nitzan said.

Kluge said his message to European countries was that “now is not the time to relax measures.”

In other developments:

■ German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked citizens Thursday to consider the strain that nurses and doctors are under as they care for a rising number of COVID-19 patients and help them by respecting social distancing and other rules over Easter.

■ Serbian police brought in a well-known Serbian doctor, Jovana Stojkovic, and other vocal anti-vaccination activists for questioning Thursday, saying they are jeopardizing the Balkan country’s successful coronavirus inoculation drive.

■ Russia’s embassy in North Korea said the country is suffering severe shortages of medicines and necessary goods amid the coronavirus pandemic. North Korea has sealed off its borders as part of stringent anti-pandemic measures.