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Europe is once again the global epicenter of the covid-19 pandemic, but measures can be taken to avoid resorting to confinement again, experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
“Europe is once again the epicenter of the disease, but we can still reverse this trend,” said WHO director of health emergencies, Mike Ryan, who called for “greater sacrifices” and to follow the example of countries that have managed to prevent more waves of covid-19.
The WHO technical director for covid-19, Maria Van Kerkhove, added that experts “still hope that new national confinements are not needed,” such as those implemented in the spring in the northern hemisphere and that the control chains can be controlled. . streaming with other tools like contact tracing.
“European countries managed to control the disease in spring and summer, they can do it again and they will,” said the American expert, who stressed that the massive confinement of populations can be avoided “if everyone does their part and make individual sacrifices.”
These sacrifices, he emphasized, range from avoiding crowded venues to postponing large meetings – “tough decisions that must be made to reduce exposure.”
Maria Van Kerkhove also said that “everything must be done to keep schools open” after the first wave of the pandemic forced schools to close for several months.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the organization “understands the physical and mental fatigue” that the pandemic is causing in some societies that had to work more at home, they were unable to organize large celebrations in large numbers. part of the year or I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to loved ones who passed away.
“The fatigue is real, but we must not give up,” he stressed, calling on political leaders to do everything possible to protect health professionals and prevent hospitals and intensive care units from reaching the limit of their capacity.
“It is dangerous to give up control” of the pandemic, he stressed, contrary to the statements of the US president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who said that the only way to win the pandemic is through mitigation measures, such as a vaccine or a treatment.
“We must not give up and that is why we say that if we agree with the chief of staff that it is important to protect the most vulnerable, give up control [da pandemia] it’s dangerous, ”said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, during the regular WHO press conference.
Regarding the strategy announced by the United States, based on mitigation and not on disease control, the WHO health emergency manager, Mike Ryan, regretted that “there are still people who do not take measures against covid-19 because they do not believe in the disease or in the pandemic “and called for persuasive measures to combat this attitude.
“Mitigation is important, but we cannot fully focus on that. The United States had a lot of problems in March and April, when it focused on that strategy while its emergency departments were saturated,” warned the WHO expert.p>
Mike Ryan also insisted on the need to think about the people most vulnerable to the disease, such as the elderly or other patients, and guaranteed that “the best way to protect them is to do everything possible to reduce the transmission of Covid-19 in the community. “.
“We cannot abandon the goal of suppressing and controlling transmission. Now it is difficult in the United States and Europe, but if each person does what it takes to reduce their exposure to the virus there can be significant progress,” he concluded.
The covid-19 pandemic has already claimed more than 1.1 million deaths and more than 43 million cases of infection worldwide, according to a report by the French agency AFP.p>
In Portugal, 2,343 people died from 121,133 confirmed cases of infection, according to the most recent bulletin from the Directorate General of Health.p>
The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected in late December 2019 in Wuhan, a city in central China.
After Europe succeeded China as the center of the pandemic in February, the Americas are now the one with the most confirmed cases and the most deaths.
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