Germany has privately declared they're in the throes a "third wave" of COVID-19, amid fears several other European countries are headed down the same path.
As the vaccine rollout begins, health authorities in the Netherlands, Sweden, Ukraine and Greece have also reported spikes in new coronavirus infections.
Late last year, the World Health Organisation's (WHO) special COVID-19 envoy warned of such an event, predicting Europe could face a third wave of the pandemic if governments repeated the mistakes that had led to the second.
"(Government's) missed building up the necessary infrastructure during the summer months, after they brought the first wave under the control," the WHO's David Nabarro said in an interview with Swiss newspaper