With 2 million infections and 169,932 deaths, according to the latest report, Europe is the continent the most hit by the coronavirus epidemic in the world.
And whereas many European countries have started to exit containment, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) head Andrea Ammon wanted to warn countries in an interview for British newspaper The Guardian: Europe should brace itself for a second coronavirus wave. The question is not “if” this will happen but “when and how big”.
Located in Sweden, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control advises European States on infectious diseases such as coronavirus. This is this agency that, for instance, said earlier this May that the “initial wave of transmission [had] passed its peak”.
“The virus is around us, circulating much more than January and February” and figures about herd immunity of the population are not convincing enough since 85% to 90% of the European population remains exposed to coronavirus.
“I don’t want to draw a doomsday picture but I think we have to be realistic. That it’s not the time now to completely relax” Andrea Ammon went on. “And especially now when it is clear [infections] are going down, people think it is over. Which it isn’t, which it definitely isn’t.”
