Europe COVID-19 cases almost at 1 million, coming weeks 'critical' - WHO

Life in lockdown: A long queue of people wait outside a supermarket with large trollies in Codogno, the small town in northern Italy where the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) took off in February, in this picture taken by schoolteacher Marzio Toniolo, April 11, 2020. Toniolo has been documenting what life has been like for his family since quarantine began for them weeks before the rest of the country in the small town of San Fiorano, not far from Codogno. Picture taken April 11, 2020. Marzio Toniolo/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT

Europe is currently in eye of the storm of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the number of cases nearing a million, the World Health Organization's (WHO) European regional director said on Thursday.

"Case numbers across the region continue to climb. In the past 10 days, the number of cases reported in Europe has nearly doubled to close to 1 million," the WHO's Hans Kluge told reporters in an online briefing.

This meant that about 50% of the global burden of COVID-19 was in Europe, Kluge said. More than 84,000 people in Europe had died in the epidemic, he said.

"The storm clouds of this pandemic still hang heavily over the European region," Kluge said. While some countries were entering a period where they may be able to ease restrictions gradually, "there is no fast track back to normal".

(Reporting by Kate Kelland, editing by Nick Macfie)