As many as 2.36 lakh more people could die of coronavirus in Europe by December 1, the World Health Organization’s director for the continent, Hans Kluge, said on Monday, AFP reported.

“Last week, there was an 11% increase in the number of deaths in the region [Europe],” Kluge told reporters. “One reliable projection is expecting 2,36,000 deaths in Europe by December 1.”

Europe has so far recorded about 13 lakh deaths due to the infection, according to AFP.

Kluge added that as many as 33 of the 53 member nations of the WHO Europe had registered a positivity rate of more than 10% in the last two weeks.

He said that the high transmission rate of the infection in the continent was a “deeply worrying” matter. Apart from the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus, Kluge said “exaggerated easing” of restrictions and a surge in summer travel were also reasons for higher transmission of the infection.

The WHO official also noted a slowdown in pace of vaccination in Europe.

“In the past six weeks, it [vaccination] has fallen by 14%, influenced by a lack of access to vaccines in some countries and a lack of vaccine acceptance in others,” Kluge said. “The stagnation in vaccine uptake in our region is of serious concern.”

Only 6% of people in lower and lower-middle income countries in Europe are fully vaccinated, while some countries have only managed to vaccinate one in 10 health professionals, according to AFP.