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New Covid wave could be imminent as delta variant sweeps Europe, WHO says The WHO said a decline in the number of infections in the region over the past 10 weeks has now come to an end. Holly Ellyatt CNBC

A new wave of coronavirus cases could soon arrive in Europe, the World Health Organization warned Thursday, highlighting that a decline in the number of infections in the region has now come to an end.

There's mounting research to suggest that protecting people who are immuno-compromised from getting COVID is important not just for their sake – it could be critical in the effort to end the pandemic for everyone.

The evidence comes from two separate strands of studies.

Dr. Laura McCoy has been doing the first type. She's an infectious disease researcher at University College London.

"The group of people that I'm particularly interested in are those living with HIV," she says.

She's been studying how well their immune systems respond to vaccines against COVID-19 — specifically the Pfizer vaccine.

So far, it's worked quite well for HIV-positive people.

But there's a catch. In her studies, "all of our participants had really quite well-controlled HIV."

Mixing different types of Covid vaccines can boost immune response, study finds Some European countries have started offering alternatives to AstraZeneca as a second shot after the vaccine was linked to rare blood clots. NBC News

A mixed schedule of vaccines where a shot of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine is given four weeks after an AstraZeneca shot will produce better immune responses than giving another dose of AstraZeneca, an Oxford study said on Monday.