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The pandemic will worsen in Europe in the next two months and mortality will increase, a World Health Organization (WHO) official warned on Monday, at a time when several countries impose new measures to stop a second wave of infections. .
“It is going to be harder. In October, in November, we will see a higher mortality” in Europe, Belgian doctor Hans Kluge, director for the WHO region, told AFP in an interview.
The number of cases of covid-19 has increased strongly for weeks, especially in Spain and France. But for now, the number of daily deaths from the pandemic remains at the level of early June, between 400 and 500, indicated the WHO of Europe.
You can read: 501 cases and 14 deaths from covid-19 in the Valley this Monday
On Sunday a new daily record of infections was reached, 308,000, according to the organization.
“I hear all the time: ‘the vaccine is going to be the end of the epidemic.’ Of course not!” Kluge said. “We don’t even know if the vaccine is going to be effective for all sectors of the population. We are getting some signs that it will be effective for some but not for others.”
The WHO official called for the privilege of specific measures instead of generalized confinements to curb infections.
As in England, where meetings of more than six people are prohibited from Monday. This measure, which does not affect the other regions of the United Kingdom, applies both internally and abroad, with the exception of schools, workplaces, weddings and funerals.
And on Tuesday, in Birmingham, the second most populous city in the United Kingdom, meetings between friends or families will not be allowed, according to a decision by local authorities.
In Austria, the mandatory use of face masks was extended to shops and public buildings at the “beginning of a second wave”, in the words of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
Back to class in Italy
The coronavirus has infected more than 29.1 million people in the world and has left some 925,000 dead, according to an AFP count prepared with official data.
In Italy, another of the European countries hardest hit by the virus with more than 35,500 deaths and more than 280,000 infections, some 5.6 million students returned to classrooms on Monday after six months of closure.
This return to class is carried out with strict measures such as the use of masks and social distancing, made possible by the construction of 5,000 new classrooms and the expansion of another 5,000.
In contrast, on the other side of the Atlantic, in Venezuela, face-to-face classes will not resume for the rest of the year, said President Nicolás Maduro, adding that educational services would continue at a distance.
The region of Latin America and the Caribbean is the most affected by the virus, with about 310,700 deaths and about 8.3 million infections, according to an AFP count.
Brazil is by far the country that is paying the highest price, with 131,625 deaths and 4.3 million infections.
Confinement in Israel
Globally, only the United States surpasses Brazil. The world’s leading power has suffered more than 194,080 deaths and 6.5 million infections, according to Johns Hopkins University.
These figures did not prevent, however, that President Donald Trump held a rally on Sunday in a compound in Nevada (southwest), an initiative that outraged local authorities, since the meetings of more than 50 people are not authorized in this state.
The North American country relaxed its alert for trips to China on Monday, recognizing that that country has made progress against covid-19, despite frequent criticism from the Donald Trump government for its role in the pandemic.
The State Department continues to ask Americans to reconsider traveling to China, but modified its previous strong recommendation not to travel to that country, where the pandemic originated in December.
Despite outbreaks of the disease in many states, governments are trying to avoid strict containment measures that have wreaked havoc on economies.
In Israel, however, the authorities decided to reimpose a national lockdown for three weeks, to try to contain the alarming spread of the virus. The country of nine million people has 153,217 cases and 1,103 deaths.
The measure will take effect on Friday, on the eve of the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when families gather and the faithful meet in synagogues.
Lack of preparation
Despite the months of fighting the coronavirus, the world lacks preparation for the next pandemic, according to an international panel of experts.
“If the lessons of covid-19 are not learned or if the necessary means and commitment are not acted upon, the next pandemic – which is a certainty – will be even more devastating,” warned the Global Preparedness Supervisory Council ( GPMB), an independent body launched in 2018 by the WHO and the World Bank.
“The impact of covid-19 is even worse than we had anticipated and the measures we recommended last year have not yet been taken,” lamented Gro Harlem Brundtland, co-chair of this Council and former head of the WHO.
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