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The World Health Organization in Europe has said it was seeing an “explosion” of coronavirus cases in the region and warned of a “difficult time” ahead as death rates rose.
“We see an explosion … in the sense that it only takes a couple of days to have an increase of one million cases in the European region,” WHO regional director for Europe Hans Kluge told AFP.
Kluge, who was wearing a mask even when interviewed during a webcam meeting, also said the death rate could be seen to be increasing “little by little.”
“It’s going to be a difficult time, we have to be honest about that,” he said.
Despite the rapid increase in cases, Mr. Kluge cautioned that school closings should be viewed as a last resort, especially in light of “no reason to say that schools are the main driver of transmission.” .
“We need to keep the schools open until the very end because we cannot afford a lost generation of Covid-19,” Kluge said.
However, the regional director also said that “the status quo is not an option” and called for “proportionate specific measures”, which could be expanded.
Kluge emphasized that governments must take into account two things: “coherence, so that people see that we do not change and … predictability, so that people know if this threshold is being reached, this is what is going to happen. . “
He also called for the widespread use of face masks.
“With the general use of masks and strict control of social gatherings, we can save 266,000 lives by February across the European region,” Kluge said.
WHO Europe covers 53 countries, including Russia and Central Asian countries, and today reported a total of more than 12 million cases in the region, with nearly two million in the past seven days.
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While handling the Covid-19 pandemic was the immediate concern, Kluge also said there were lessons to be learned should an even more dangerous virus appear.
“Imagine that Covid is transmitted as easily as measles, or imagine that Covid is as deadly as Ebola … We must seize this opportunity to be better prepared for the future,” Kluge said.
England’s 56 million people re-entered a lockdown today, after crowds queued outside soon-to-be-closed shops, booked a last-minute haircut or headed to the pub for a last pint.
Some late-night revelers clashed with police, including in parts of London and the northern city of Leeds, as skepticism about a return to the strict curbs mounted.
The new restrictions are expected to be in effect until December 2 and require returning to work from home whenever possible, along with the closure of all non-essential shops and services, while schools will remain open.
“For us, it’s crazy,” Faraj Faraj, head of operations for London’s Mercato Metropolitano food market, told AFP.
“Going through this again, just before Christmas, is actually death by a thousand cuts.”
To try to soften the blow, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak announced that the UK will continue to pay up to 80% of the salaries of private sector workers until the end of March.
Britain is among the worst affected countries in the world with just over a million virus cases and nearly 48,000 deaths.
Denmark announced that it would euthanize its entire population of more than 15 million minks after a mutation of the new coronavirus was discovered to have spread to people from otter-like mammals.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, whose nation is the world’s largest exporter of mink fur, said the discovery could threaten the effectiveness of any future Covid-19 vaccines.
France, meanwhile, blocked last week amid rising infections, but the mayor of Paris announced today that stores selling alcohol and food to late-night shoppers will be forced to close at 10 p.m. to “avoid meetings. “.
In Italy, stores that sell non-essential products will be closed from tomorrow in the worst affected areas of the “red zone” and people will be largely confined to their homes, except for work, health and emergency reasons.
Authorities have also announced a nationwide nighttime curfew despite mounting outrage in some regions who suspect other areas are going lightly.
“It’s a slap in the face for Lombardy,” enraged the president of the northern region, Attilio Fontana, a member of the far-right opposition Liga party.
Greece announced that it will re-enter a three-week lockdown starting Saturday, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis saying “it was a difficult decision” but something had to be done.
In Sweden, which has rejected the mandatory closures seen elsewhere in Europe, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said he had self-isolated after being in someone’s “neighborhood” with Covid-19.
“More people are infected. More people are dying. It is a serious situation,” he said today when the total death toll in Sweden exceeded 6,000.
In the Netherlands, museums, cinemas, theaters, zoos and amusement parks were closed from 10 p.m. yesterday for at least two weeks.
Russia officially has no plans for a lockdown, but that resolution can be tested after yesterday’s record daily infections of nearly 20,000 and a death toll of nearly 400.
The second wave has also stalled an incipient economic recovery in Europe, with the EU warning that it will not return to normal before 2023.
“The rally has been interrupted,” said European Union Commissioner for Economic Affairs Paolo Gentiloni, revealing a bleak economic outlook.
Meanwhile, the United States recorded its worst number of daily cases, 99,660, according to Johns Hopkins University, as the winner of the presidential election was still being determined in a country that has suffered a world record of 233,000 deaths from Covid-19.
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