The 'storm clouds' of the coronavirus pandemic will hang over Europe for some time, a World Health Organisation chief has warned.
Dr Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, warned that the next few weeks of the coronavirus response are 'critical' and that there is 'no fast road back to normal'.
Speaking at a briefing this morning Dr Kluge said: "The storm clouds of this pandemic still hang heavily over the European region.
"The next few weeks will be critical for Europe.
"Make no mistake, despite the spring weather, we are in the middle of a storm."
He added: "There is no fast road back to normal."
Do you have a coronavirus story? Email webnews@mirror.com
Dr Kluge announced that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported in Europe has nearly doubled over the past week.
The figure now stands at close to one million across the continent.
Countries which were badly affected by the coronavirus towards the beginning of the pandemic do not yet have the end in sight.
Spain, which has reported 182,000 cases and more than 19,000 deaths, has endured a sudden spike in cases over the last two days just as its trend line looked to be flattening out.
Italy has managed to flatten the curve with weeks of social restrictions, although it is still seeing more than 500 die every day.
UK Government health minister have echoed Dr Kluge's sentiments over the past day.
On Wednesday night, health minister Nadine Dorries took to Twitter to urge journalists to stop asking about an exit strategy.
She said: "There is only one way we can 'exit' full lockdown and that is when we have a vaccine. Until then, we need to find ways we can adapt society and strike a balance between the health of the nation and our economy."
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Thursday he agreed that things will not go back to how they were, at least in the short term.
He stressed the number of deaths is still "far too high" for any exit strategy to be set out, adding the public must instead focus on staying at home.
He told Sky News: "Well I think what Nadine was saying is the idea that we'll immediately... we'll just switch off all of the measures and return to some kind of... to things exactly as they were - that is not likely in the short-term."
He said Ms Dorries' use of the word "full" when referring to the lockdown was key, adding he thought the "point that Nadine was making is that we will not be returning to some... just straight back exactly how things were before. This will take time."
