The rate of new HIV infections reached a decade-long high in Europe last year, raising an "alarm bell" ahead of the 30th anniversary of World Aids Day on Saturday.

Despite the huge progress made in controlling the global endemic since the 1980s, Europe saw nearly 160,000 new HIV cases in 2017.

This is equivalent to 20 people per 100,000, a rise from the 18.2 new diagnoses per 100,000 people in 2016, according to a joint report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Every other person diagnosed had already developed Aids, an advanced stage of the infection.

The figures were published on Tuesday to commemorate World Aids Day, the theme of which is 'Know your Status'. Last week, a UNAID report found that 9.4 million people living with HIV worldwide do not currently know they are living with the virus.

In Europe, over 80 per cent of infections – some 130,000 – were in Eastern Europe last year. Conservative social attitudes there have limited treatment availability and prevented those likely to be affected – men who have sex with men, injecting drug users and sex workers – from receiving help.

“The WHO European Region is the only region where HIV infections are sharply rising,” said Dr Masoud Dara, coordinator for communicable diseases and HIV team lead at WHO Europe. “This report should be an alarm bell.”