WHO calls Covid-19 surge across Europe a ‘wake-up call’

An alarming surge of cases in Europe—new cases doubled in the last 2 weeks in more than half of the member states—should serve as a wake-up call, the WHO warned yesterday, the BBC reports.

Europe reported 300,000 new infections last week alone, and weekly cases passed the toll from the first peak last March, Hans Klug, the WHO’s regional director for Europe, said in Copenhagen yesterday.

Countries with big spikes:

• • The Czech Republic’s daily cases are growing rapidly, from the hundreds into the thousands—with more than 3,000 cases reported in a single day for the first time today. Reuters 

• • France set a record last weekend with more than 10,000 new cases in a single day; now ICUs are nearing capacity in cities like Bordeaux and Marseilles—and governments are tightening up restrictions again in response. CNN  

• • Spain is seeing its highest number of deaths since June—especially in Madrid, where authorities plan to announce new lockdown measures. BBC
  • The UK government is close to imposing a second lockdown today, after new cases have nearly doubled to 6,000 per day. Reuters

Courtesy: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health