WHO finds coronavirus outbreak in Europe “concerning”

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The World Health Organization (WHO) finds the coronavirus outbreak in Europe “concerning” as the number of intensive care beds shrinks.

With its coronavirus outbreak, Europe posts 187 new Covid-19 infections per million people, based on a seven-day average. Overall, Europe, which covers the 27 European Union countries and the UK, records an average of around 97,000 new cases per day, up 44% from one week ago, based on a CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.

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The spike of cases across the region compelled France to announce a public health state of emergency. Germany and the UK implemented new measures in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.

Dr. Hans Kluge, the head of the WHO’s Europe office, believes that the cause of the increase of new coronavirus cases is the public’s lack of compliance when it comes to health and safety protocols.

According to Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead, Europe is not only seeing an increase in coronavirus cases. It faces an increase in hospitalizations and ICU admissions.

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“We know of a number of cities across Europe where ICU capacity will be reached in the coming weeks,” Kerkhove said Friday during a press briefing at WHO’s Geneva headquarters. “That is concerning as we approach the flu season.”

Health authorities have warned that they are gearing up for the two bad viruses that would spread as the coronavirus outbreak bleeds in the flu season. Kerkhove asked people to “rally” together, adding the world is not in the same condition six months ago.

“We know so much more,” she said. “There is a lot of comparisons now versus what we were seeing in March. But the massive difference right now is that we have testing capacity increased, we have a public health workforce that has increased compared to where we were in March, we have medical facilities who have beds who are better trained and have better experience of dealing with Covid-19.”

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She reminded people to wash their hands regularly, wear face covering, keep their distance from others, and not participate in crowds.

“All contribute to bringing this under control,” she said. “It’s a number of things. It’s not just the wearing of masks. Masks must be used as part of a comprehensive package.”

“I know this is focused on Europe, but this is everywhere,” she added. “All the decisions that we make every day, we have some control over how we go about our daily lives. … Please do it all.”

Pandemic fatigue

Meanwhile, pandemic fatigue is considered the root cause of Covid-19 resurgence in several parts of Europe, particularly in Spain and France.

“There are some worrying trends that we’re starting to see,” said Dr. Kerkhove. “What is really worrying I think for us is that we’re not only seeing an increase in the case numbers, but we’re seeing an increase in the hospitalizations. We’re seeing increases in ICUs,” she said.

France and Spain outbreaks have exceeded that of the US. Spain and France has an average of 215 and 129 daily new cases per 1 million residents, respectively.

“If you look at the European Union right now, they’re having breakouts like you’ve never seen before. And, frankly, their numbers are at a level that is much worse than the numbers here,” President Donald Trump said last week. “We have done much, much better than the European Union.”