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).