Why is Europe experiencing a third Covid wave?

Europe has been badly hit by a third wave of coronavirus.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned a fresh wave of coronavirus infections sweeping through Europe will hit the UK ‘in due course.’

Over 30 million Covid-19 vaccines have now been delivered across the UK and deaths and hospital admissions are continuing to fall.

However, the Mr Johnson has warned people to continue to follow the guidelines with a third wave expected.

The warning comes as the rise in infections has led to some European countries going back into lockdown restrictions, including parts of France, Italy and Poland, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the country is ‘now at the beginning of a third wave’.

So, why is Europe seeing a third Covid wave?

Why is Europe having a third wave?

Several European countries are extending or reintroducing lockdown measures as a third wave of the pandemic sweeps the continent as new, more contagious, variants of the virus are detected – including the B117 mutation first detected in the UK.

Professor Calum Semple, a member of the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) but speaking in a personal capacity, told Sky News on Tuesday: ‘The good news is the current vaccines all cover the Kent variant very well.

‘The concern at present is that in countries where there is less vaccination and a very strong third wave at the moment, that’s the perfect breeding ground for further variants of concern.’

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the highly-contagious Kent variant is now dominant in the likes of Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal.

In France, the seven-day average of new daily cases exceeded 30,000, up from 10,000 in December and a third of the population is now under stricter lockdown restrictions.

Italy has done the same by imposing tough new restrictions after new daily cases surged from a weekly average of just over 12,000 in January to more than 22,000 this week.

Even countries that have had fewer total deaths since the first outbreak this time last year are feeling the effects of a third wave.

The Netherlands recently extended their tough coronavirus lockdown until the end of the month as its seven-day average of daily new cases continued to surge, nearly doubling to about 6,400 from just over 3,000 in January.

Is the UK in the second or third Covid wave?

Each part of the UK has endured different lockdown restrictions since the virus first began spreading this time last year.

The majority of the UK went into a second lockdown towards the end of 2020 following a second wave.

Infection rates and hospital admissions reached higher numbers than those experienced in the first wave.

Britain’s latest lockdown has dramatically reduced cases of coronavirus, and the number of people being admitted to hospital and dying from the disease, suggesting we are now out of the second wave.

On March 23, 2021 – a year on from the start of the first lockdown – another 112 people died with Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.

Another 5,379 new daily cases were reported in the same period and until those numbers begin to drastically rise, the UK will not be seen as being in a third wave.

Will lockdown be extended in the UK?

Mr Johnson’s England roadmap for exiting the lockdown currently sees nearly all restrictions being lifted on June 21 if everything goes to plan.

Going by Mr Johnson’s comments on February 22, lockdown won’t be extended as long as their four key tests are met.

‘At every stage, our decisions will be led by data not dates, and subjected to four tests,’ he said.

‘First, that the vaccine deployment programme continues successfully; second, that evidence shows vaccines are sufficiently effective in reducing hospitalisations and deaths; third, that infection rates do not risk a surge in hospitalisations which would put unsustainable pressure on the NHS; and fourth, that our assessment of the risks is not fundamentally changed by new variants of Covid that cause concern.’

Scotland has also earmarked June as the month they hope most restrictions will be eased, but First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has stressed that this will only be the case if coronavirus infections continue to fall – a sentiment shared by Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford.

Northern Ireland hasn’t set out a specific time frame for when lockdown will end.

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