This appears to be the (1st?) Delta wave, hitting NorthWest Europe a few months after UK. Interestingly enough Sweden is doing better, though God knows for how long.
https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explor...
https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explor...
If I recall correctly, during California's surge last fall/winter, health officials and the media were quick to blame the public for bad behavior, but it also turned out that a new variant was taking hold.
There is little hope to control the spread in the longterm, especially after delta. Eventually covid will burn through the population one way or another. Vaccines help dull the sharp edge, hopefully this holds moving forward. The other hope is that a population no longer immunologically naive to the virus will be more resilient, that is waves will be rarer and smaller. Sweden may have a head start, for the rest we have to wait for fall 2022.