European countries at the start of a third wave of Covid, experts warn

Decision to pause use of AstraZeneca jab could lead to more deaths as new variant cases increase rapidly

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Large parts of Europe are at the start of a third coronavirus wave, experts have said, with warnings that the decision to pause the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine over health concerns is likely lead to a rise in cases and a high number of deaths as more contagious new variants account for the majority of cases.

Christian Drosten, a leading virologist at Berlin's Charite hospital said Germany's epidemiological situation was not good right now", and was compounded both by the exponential rise in the spread of the B117 mutation which first originated in Britain that now makes up about three-quarters of new cases in Germany, and the decision to temporarily stop using Oxford/AstraZeneca. We need this vaccine," he insisted.