July 23, 2021 "We are far from out of the woods in terms of the pandemic ending and sadly in many countries in our region we’re seeing a significant rise in cases associated with the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant," said Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO's regional director for Europe. — Courtesy file photo GENEVA — The COVID-19 Delta variant is now dominant in much of Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said. The WHO and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have warned that efforts to prevent the spread of the variant must be reinforced. On average, over 68 percent of COVID-19 infections in the majority of European countries were caused by the highly contagious Delta variant, which first emerged in India.