Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The number of COVID-19 cases has sharply increased in several European countries, in some states the highest mortality rates have been recorded for the entire pandemic. This is forcing the authorities to reintroduce quarantine measures and actively urge people to get vaccinated, the BBC reported.

On 19 October, the Russian government proposed to introduce non-working days from 30 October to 7 November throughout the country in order to stop the spread of the pandemic. For the first time in recent years, new restrictions have been introduced in Moscow: they were announced by the mayor of the Russian capital, Sergei Sobyanin. From 25 October to 25 February, the authorities recommended that unvaccinated Muscovites over 60 and those suffering from chronic diseases stay at home.

Over the past month, the number of coronavirus infections in Russia has grown by 70%, with a new maximum of both new cases and deaths being recorded almost every day. For example, on 19 October, 33.7 thousand cases of COVID-19 were reported per day, 1015 people died from the consequences of the coronavirus.

The Russian authorities attribute such statistics to insufficient vaccination. According to Reuters, the country has received 98.7 million vaccinations, but given that two doses are required for a full immunization, this means that only 34.2% of the country’s population are vaccinated.

Ukraine, where the percentage of vaccinated people is even lower (about 19% of the population were partially immunized here, and about 15% were fully immunized), also demonstrates a significant deterioration of the situation. So, on 19 October, 538 deaths were recorded here - the largest number during a pandemic, 15.5 thousand new cases of the disease were detected. In several regions of the country, ranked among the red zones, significant restrictions have been introduced.

The situation in Latvia has also deteriorated sharply. The authorities of this country decided to introduce a hard lockdown from 21 October to 15 November: all shops, except for the most essential, are closed, as well as restaurants, schools and places of entertainment; a curfew is also introduced from 20.00 to 5.00. This is due to the fact that, in terms of the number of cases per 10 thousand inhabitants, Latvia now ranks second in the European Union, while the incidence jumped by 49% over the previous week. Only about 54% of the adult population have been immunized, with the EU average of 74%.

Extremely disturbing news is coming from other European countries as well. Record mortality was recorded in Romania, the country’s healthcare system is unable to cope with the load, and there are no more places in intensive care units. In Poland, the number of new cases increased by 85% compared to the previous week, in the Netherlands, the weekly incidence increased by 44%.

In the UK, where almost all quarantine measures have been canceled within the country, for the seventh day in a row the number of cases exceeds 40 thousand. On 19 October, 223 deaths were also recorded - the highest rate since March. The authorities warn that the country is "facing a difficult winter" and promise to reintroduce some restrictions if necessary.

Earlier it was reported that a new dangerous mutation of the coronavirus, AY.4.2, appeared and is already actively spreading in the UK. This is a variation of the so-called delta strain, however, AY.4.2 is much more infectious than the original version.