How bad is the situation in Europe?
Covid-19 deaths are currently five times lower than they were in March and April, when the first wave hit the continent, the WHO’s European director, Dr Hans Kluge, told a news conference on Thursday.
One reason for the increase in cases seen in recent weeks is more young people testing positive for the virus, he said, adding that the lower mortality rate was because that demographic was less likely to die from Covid-19 than older people.
But projections of the course of the disease in Europe were “not optimistic”, he explained.
If European governments relax their restrictions, the course of the virus indicates that by January 2021 the daily mortality rate will be four to five times higher than it was during April, Dr Kluge said.
But if 95% of people wear masks and other social distancing measures are applied, Europe could avoid about 281,000 deaths by February, he added.
He said that governments must consider mental health and domestic violence when imposing restrictions, and do everything possible to keep schools open.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has called on countries to step up their preparations, advising governments to co-ordinate contact tracing and the eventual deployment of vaccines.
On Thursday European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen left an EU summit to go into self-isolation after a member of her office tested positive. She said she herself had tested negative, but would nonetheless self-isolate “as a precaution”.
The spread of the virus has been accelerating across Europe in recent weeks after infections began to rise in August and September.
In the Czech Republic, which currently has the highest infection rate in Europe, cases have nearly doubled in October to reach a total of 139,290.
