WHO European Director Hans Kluge calls on Europe to “step up” “basic measures” to counter the circulation in the region of a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus.
It is “an alarming situation”. The regional directorate of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday called on Europe to “do more” to deal with the circulation in the region of a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus, first detected in the United Kingdom.
“These are the basic measures, which we all know, that must be stepped up to lower transmission, relieve our Covid-19 services and save lives,” WHO European Director Hans Kluge said during ‘an online press point.
The new strain could “replace the others”
It is important to generalize the wearing of masks, limit the number of social gatherings, respect physical distance and hand washing, and combine these measures with adequate screening and tracing systems and the isolation of patients, a- he detailed.
According to the organization’s estimates, the new strain “could gradually replace others circulating across the region, as seen in the UK and increasingly in Denmark.” Twenty-two countries in the Europe zone, which includes 53 including Russia, have now recorded cases linked to this new strain, said the WHO.
A risk of hospital saturation
The so-called British variant (“VOC 202012/01”) does not change the nature of the disease: “L Covid-19 is neither more nor less serious” and “children do not seem to be more exposed”, recalled Hans Kluge. Early indications also suggest that Covid-19 vaccines are effective against the variant. But because of its increased transmissibility, the variant risks worsening the number of cases and contributing to saturating health systems, according to the WHO.
“This is an alarming situation, which means that for a short time we are going to have to do more than we have done, and intensify public health measures and social measures to be sure to smooth out the very sharply rising curves. in some countries, “said Hans Kluge.
Very affected by the pandemic, Europe has recorded more than 27.6 million cases and 603,000 deaths, according to the monitoring table of the Organization.
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