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A café bar near the Eiffel Tower on the last day before new Covid-19 restrictions force bars and cafes in the capital to close for a minimum of two weeks on October 5, 2020 in Paris, France.
Kiran Ridley | Getty Images News | fake images
As Europe introduces increasingly restrictive measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the leader of the World Health Organization (WHO) office in the region has said large-scale lockdowns should be a “last resort” .
“A proportional and specific response is the way to go. The measures or tightening in many countries in Europe … are appropriate and necessary responses to what the data tells us,” said Dr. Hans Kluge, regional director of WHO for Europe. .
“It is never too late (to tighten measures) but of course we are definitely concerned. Overall, this is the time to step up restrictive measures … with lockdowns as a last resort. We know much better than we did in March. that can and should be done “.
Kluge cited models that suggested a much greater and widespread adherence to the use of masks and strict controls in social gatherings in public and private spaces that could save up to 281,000 lives by February 2021 in 53 countries that report to the WHO regional office in Europe.
“The pandemic will not reverse its course on its own, but we will,” he said, praising measures by Europe’s governments to tighten Covid-19 restrictions. “We have to be uncompromising,” he said, calling for a “systematic and generalized” adherence to the basic measures of mask use and social distancing.
“These measures are intended to keep us all ahead of the curve and flatten its course … Any further escalation of measures would be the result of non-compliance with the above, therefore it is up to us to accept them while they are still relatively easy to follow. go on, “he said.
When asked whether he is for or against the national blockades, he reiterated that today’s pandemic “is not the same as yesterday’s pandemic” both in terms of transmission dynamics and the ways in which governments can address it.
In March, the shutdown was “a shutdown,” he said, with no outings, schools closed and circulation reduced. But “today the blockade means something very different, it means a step-by-step escalation of proportionate, specific and time-limited measures,” he said.
Any national lockdown must consider the direct risks and “collateral damage” associated with the pandemic, such as the impact on mental health, domestic gender-based violence, and the impact on students.
Major concern
Europe now has more than 7.2 million confirmed cases of the virus, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and hospitalizations are increasing at a worrying rate.
“The overall increase in winter continues to unfold in Europe with exponential increases in daily cases and equivalent percentage increases in daily deaths. The evolution of the epidemiological situation in Europe is of great concern,” Kluge said.
“The daily number of cases has increased, hospital admissions have increased … the region has recorded the highest weekly incidence of Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, with nearly 700,000 reported cases.”
In the past 24 hours, France has declared a state of public health emergency, the UK is nearing a second national lockdown, and Germany has introduced a series of new rules in an effort to reduce the infection rate.
WHO’s Kluge insisted that the situation facing Europe now is not the same as it faced in March.
“Does that mean we are back in mid-March? No, we are not. Although we are registering two to three times as many cases per day compared to the peak in April, we still see five times fewer deaths and doubled hospitalization time. admissions are still two to three times longer (than in March). “
Meanwhile, the virus has not changed, “it has not become more or less dangerous,” he said.
He added that the situation could deteriorate if the virus spreads among the older age groups.
