Economic toll grows in coronavirus-rampaged Europe

“MARATHON” FIGHT

As some European countries reportedly attempt to relax lockdown measures as early as mid-April, the World Health Organization (WHO) regional office for Europe on Wednesday described the continuing fight against COVID-19 in European regions as a “marathon”, stressing that it is not time to lower guard and relax measures.

In a video statement to the press in Copenhagen, WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr. Hans Kluge called on all Europeans to stay united and vigilant.

“Knowledge of COVID-19 and some positive signs from some countries do not yet represent victory … Now is not the time to relax measures. It is the time to once again double and triple our collective efforts to drive towards suppression with the whole support of society,” Kluge said, warning that

“Europe remains very much at the center of the pandemic.”

His warning was echoed by Dr. Ranieri Guerra, who sits on the Technical and Scientific Committee advising the Italian government on how to handle the pandemic.

“We still have to take a lot of preliminary steps,” Guerra said Wednesday at a press conference in Rome.

“The trend of the epidemic curve shows it is not decreasing significantly, but rather we are in the midst of a slowdown in the speed of transmission (of the virus),” said Guerra, who also serves as assistant director-general for strategic initiatives at the World Health Organization (WHO).

“This means there is a reservoir of asymptomatic coronavirus carriers, which continues to guarantee the circulation of the virus,” said Guerra.

Relaxing the lockdown “in these conditions, without precise knowledge of how the coronavirus epidemic has evolved and will evolve, is rather difficult to imagine,” he said.

Also on Wednesday, Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa said that Spain, which recorded the most infection cases in Europe, has “reached the peak of contagion,” although the country saw a rise in new COVID-19 cases and deaths for a second day after four straight days of decline.

As of Wednesday, Spain reported 146,690 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 14,555 deaths. Italy ranked second with 139,422 cases and 17,669 deaths, followed by France with 112,950 cases and 10,869 deaths.

In the Netherlands, the total number of COVID-19 cases has surpassed the 20,000 mark on Wednesday, according to fresh figures from health authorities.

Source: Xinhua – BRUSSELS