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COPENHAGEN: The World Health Organization on Thursday warned of “alarming rates of transmission” of Covid-19 in Europe and warned against reducing quarantine periods as countries in the region scramble to find ways to reduce the infections without resorting to new blocks.
WHO’s regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, said a September surge – Europe set a new record last week, with some 54,000 cases registered in 24 hours – “should serve as a wake-up call for all of us.” .
“Although these numbers reflect more comprehensive tests, they also show alarming transmission rates across the region,” he told an online news conference from Copenhagen.
Across Europe, governments are struggling to contain the further increase in cases, while wanting to avoid inflicting further damage to their economies and impose sweeping new restrictions on their virus-weary populations.
In Britain, new measures will go into effect on Friday, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson warning that pubs may have to close earlier to help avoid a “second hump” of coronavirus cases.
Residents of the North East of England, including the cities of Newcastle and Sunderland, will no longer be able to meet people outside their homes or immediate social circles.
The government, facing criticism for a lack of testing capacity, imposed rules in England on Monday limiting socialization to groups of six or fewer, as daily cases reached levels not seen since early May.
Britain has been the worst affected country in Europe with almost 42,000 deaths.
Meanwhile, the city of Madrid backtracked on a plan for specific closures, saying it would instead act to “reduce mobility and contacts” in areas with high infection rates.
Austria announced that private indoor gatherings would be limited to 10 people, including all parties, private events and indoor gatherings.
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had warned earlier this week that the Alpine nation was entering a second wave of infections.
Outside of Europe, Israel will become the first developed country to enforce a second national lockdown, which will begin Friday afternoon.
His government asked that hundreds of its citizens who are blocked on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border return home.
About 2,000 Hasidic Jewish pilgrims, mainly from the United States, Israel and France, are concentrated on the border that Ukraine has closed for most of this month to prevent the spread of the virus.
The pilgrims expected to arrive in the city of Uman for the Jewish New Year this weekend.
In further comment Thursday, WHO Europe said it would not change its guidance for a 14-day quarantine period for those exposed to the virus.
The recommendation “is based on our knowledge of the incubation and transmission period of the disease. We will only review it on the basis of a change in our understanding of science, ”said Catherine Smallwood, WHO Senior Emergency Officer Europe.
France has reduced the recommended duration for self-isolation to seven days, while in the UK and Ireland it is 10 days. Several more European countries, such as Portugal and Croatia, are also considering shorter quarantines.
Elsewhere, a study published by Oxfam found that wealthy nations have already purchased more than half of the promised stocks of Covid-19 vaccines.
Posted in Dawn, Sep 18, 2020
