First modification: 16/02/2021 – 14:56Last modification: 16/02/2021 – 14:54
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Paris (AFP)
In Auckland, two million New Zealanders began a three-day lockdown on Monday due to three cases of Covid-19. Act quickly and with force to quickly return to normal life: this is the so-called “covid zero” strategy adopted in Asia and Oceania. But is it applicable in Europe?
This strategy aims to reduce the circulation of the coronavirus in a region or country to zero, by adopting strict measures as soon as cases appear, combined with drastic control of infection outbreaks (testing, tracking and isolating). At the same time, normal life can continue in areas where the virus does not circulate.
More and more specialists advocate applying this strategy – which has been seen in countries such as New Zealand, Australia, China, Taiwan and Vietnam – in Europe.
“In terms of health, they are the undisputed world champions in terms of the low number of deaths per inhabitant, and in social terms, life has returned as before: bars, restaurants, cultural and sports activities, schools and universities they are open, and there are practically no barrier gestures, “epidemiologist Antoine Flahault told AFP.
“Economically, Taiwan and China posted positive GDP growth in 2020,” adds Flahault, director of the Institute for Global Health at the University of Geneva.
– “Living with covid” –
For him, the “zero covid” option is better than that adopted by most Western countries, where “you live with the virus” “between two waves.”
“The current situation is not acceptable, it creates too much uncertainty in the long term,” says Martin McKee, professor of public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
“We are trying in vain to control the epidemic,” McKee tells AFP. “There is a constant resurgence of the virus, which means additional lockdowns, and no one can plan anything, whether it’s going on vacation, getting married or investing in a restaurant,” he adds.
And “the more the virus circulates, the more we expose ourselves to the appearance of mutations. We cannot continue with a third, fourth, fifteenth or twentieth wave,” insists the professor, who is convinced that “zero covid” is “the only alternative “.
But is this strategy possible in Europe? “It would be more difficult,” admits Archie Clements, an epidemiologist at Curtin University in Perth, Australia.
“There are several reasons for this: the increased mobility and population density in Europe, the dependence of the European economy on cross-border travel and the fact that Europe is a major tourist destination,” he explains.
– “Imperialist”
“In Australia and New Zealand we have natural advantages that other countries do not have, especially our isolation and the lack of land borders,” he adds.
But this kind of argument does not convince Europeans who are in favor of “zero covid”.
“When the UK has a higher mortality rate than Germany, Switzerland or France, we are not saying that its insularity is the reason for its poor results,” notes Professor Flahault, although he admits that this strategy would involve border controls in the Schengen area .
McKee stresses for his part that “Taiwan and Vietnam are densely populated” and also rejects another theory that is sometimes heard, according to which Asians would be more docile than Europeans. “It is a quite imperialist vision,” he estimates.
Regardless of whether the “zero covid” strategy can be imported or not, it is in any case “too late for that in Europe”, where the virus and its variants circulate with great force, estimates Professor Clements.
“Europe lost the opportunity to adopt a zero covid strategy at the end of the first lockdown” and “preferred to take advantage of the summer” by letting “circulate the virus”, says Professor Flahault.
According to him, our democracies must open a “real debate” to avoid “repeating the mistakes of the past.” “Several European countries will see the number of cases decrease significantly in a few weeks and will have to ask themselves this question.
© 2021 AFP
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