Europe's Covid Surge

The Briefing Room

As parts of Europe struggle to contain Covid cases we ask what that means for them and us. The World Health Organisation has warned that another 500,000 people in Europe could die of Covid by March next year unless countries take urgent action to control the spread of the virus.

Austria – the country with the lowest vaccination rate in western Europe - has become the first country to legally require people to have the vaccine from next February. The German health minister has said the country is in a national emergency that could result in another national lockdown. There have been riots in the Netherlands in response to new Covid restrictions.

So why is the situation so dire, what’s being done about it and what risk does the crisis on the continent pose to the UK?

Joining David Aaronovitch in The Briefing Room are:

Dr Louise Blair, Lead analyst in vaccines and covid variants at the health analytics firm, Airfinity. Dr Clemens Auer, Special Envoy for Health for the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection of Austria. He was Austria’s Covid co-ordinator until March. Professor Martin McKee, Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Professor Sheena Cruickshank, Immunologist at the University of Manchester. Dr Raghib Ali, Senior Clinical Research Associate, University of Cambridge

Producers: Ben Carter, John Murphy and Kirsteen Knight Editor: Richard Vadon Studio Engineer: Rod Farquhar Production Co-ordinator: Siobhan Reed