DELTA VARIANT DOOMS HOPE FOR END OF PANDEMIC: MERKEL

Despite progress in many Western countries' vaccination campaigns and falling infection rates, it is too soon for the European Union (EU) to drop its guard against the spread of the coronavirus, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

"In light of the Delta variant, we unfortunately cannot say that we are headed towards to end of the pandemic," Merkel told journalists following an EU summit in Brussels.

Even countries with more advanced inoculation rates than the EU's, like Israel and Britain, were seeing a spike in infections, she told Ella Joyner of Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

"That's why I can only appeal for caution," Merkel said, calling on citizens to keep up relatively small gestures like wearing masks indoors and taking regular tests.

It was not a question of whether the Delta variant would spread throughout the bloc, she said, "it is only a question of how quickly it spreads."

It is therefore crucial for citizens to get a second shot of vaccine when appropriate, she said, since that has so far ensured sufficient protection against the new, more contagious variant.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke in similar terms. "We are worried about the Delta variant."

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