According to Agence France-Presse, the WHO warned that the number of new coronary pneumonia cases is increasing “exponentially”. At the same time, EU disease control agencies and health workers have issued alarms about the surge in new crown cases in continental Europe.
Even those countries that avoided a severe outbreak in the first wave of epidemics in Europe in the spring have seen a surge in the number of cases recently, with Germany’s cumulative death toll as of Saturday exceeding 10,000.
Governments have taken containment measures again to slow the spread of the virus. However, people who are tired of maintaining social distancing and financial difficulties oppose the new restrictions.
Andrea Ammon, director of the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC), said that the European continent is facing major public health threats and a “highly concerned epidemiological situation.”
The agency said that with the exception of Cyprus, Estonia, Finland and Greece, all EU countries are within the scope of “serious concern”. The United Kingdom is also “serious concern”, compared to only seven countries a month ago.
Earlier this week, Spain became the first European country to officially announce that the cumulative number of new coronary pneumonia cases exceeded 1 million. Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez said on Friday that the actual number of infections may exceed three times this number.
Following Spain, France also broke the cumulative 1 million cases last Friday, and Germany also set a new record of nearly 15,000 new cases. The health department urged the public to take social distancing measures.
Some countries have imposed new emergency restrictions on daily life, and France has extended the curfew to 46 million people.
Late Friday, a curfew was imposed in parts of Italy, including the capital Rome, when hundreds of protesters in Naples threw objects at the police and lit trash cans.
After experiencing the two-month national blockade caused by the worst outbreak in Europe, Italy is hobbled in the worst economic recession since the war. The authorities are currently unwilling to repeat the previous strict quarantine restrictions.
One day after Ireland announced the blockade, Wales entered a total blockade on Friday night, while Poland adopted a nationwide “red zone” blockade, forcibly closing some primary schools and restaurants.
Globally, the new crown virus has now claimed 1.1 million lives and the number of infections is close to 42 million. The WHO warned that the northern hemisphere is at a critical juncture.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “There is an exponential increase in the number of new coronary pneumonia cases in too many countries, and hospitals and intensive care units are currently approaching or exceeding the load.”
