Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sep 16: Fresh restrictions on the movements of the people and activities seems to be on the cards in England and several European countries with a fresh wave of Corona epidemic hitting these nations that the World Health Organisation described as “very serious.” But none of the countries want immediate nation-wide lockdown, unless the fresh restriction fails to bring the situation under control.
Weekly cases have now exceeded the March numbers when Covid-19 was in a peak in Europe, reports received from various sources said. The WHO’s regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, said, “We have a very serious situation unfolding before us.” And after the WHO expressed concerns over the accelerating number of cases in Europe, the UK government said it was mulling a ‘short period’ of tighter restrictions likely to be announced next week.
According to reports, nearly half of European countries have reported more than 10 per cent increase in cases in the past two weeks. On Wednesday, France reported 9,874 cases — highest daily cases reported so far in France. “This is a wake-up call for all of us,” Kluge said.
The second wave is being seen as a direct result of resuming several activities across Europe, including the resumption of schools.
The British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Friday that the country would have to “come together” over the coming weeks to get on top of the spike, which he noted was leading to a doubling in the number of people being hospitalized with the virus every seven to eight days. “We want to avoid a national lockdown altogether, that is the last line of defense,” Hancock told a section of the media. “It is not the proposal that’s on the table.”
Following days of criticism over its testing strategy, there is mounting speculation that the government will announce fresh curbs on the hospitality sector, such as pubs and restaurants, potentially involving curfews — something that has already been put in place in areas that are already under lockdown restrictions.
According to the media reports, the British government’s chief scientific adviser and medical officer warned of another serious coronavirus outbreak and many more deaths by the end of October if there were no further interventions. Possible measures include asking some hospitality businesses to close or keep open only for limited period.
The testing that is being conducted has already seen a sharp increase in cases over the past couple of weeks that have raised fears that the country with Europe’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak may be in for a second wave during the winter. Critics say it has lost control of the virus and that’s why new measures are being introduced.
Already this week, a ban on social gatherings of more than six people, including children, has come into effect for England. The other nations of the U.K. — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — have announced similar clampdowns on meetings.
The latest daily figures show that another 3,395 new confirmed cases were reported in the UK, though down from the previous day’s 3,991 but the seven-day average is around double the level a couple of weeks back.
The sources said it was clear that the increase in cases was leading to a higher number of people requiring acute care. The number of patients being treated for the disease in hospitals in England increased to 894 on Wednesday, up from 472 on September 1, according to the latest government statistics. The number of hospitalized patients on ventilators rose to 107 from 59 in the same period.
The worry was that deaths might start to increase markedly in the days and weeks ahead. Though the U.K. is recording far fewer deaths on a daily basis than it did earlier this year, it still registered another 21 on Thursday, taking the total of Covid-19 positive deaths to 41,705.
“This is a big moment for the country,” Hancock said. “We are seeing acceleration in the number of cases and we are also seeing that the number of people hospitalized with coronavirus is doubling every eight days.”
The government’s strategy over the coming weeks, he said, was to contain the virus down as much as possible whilst ensuring schools and workplaces remain open.
“And doing everything we possibly can for the cavalry that’s on the horizon of the vaccine and mass testing, and the treatments that, frankly, this country has done more than any other around the world to develop,” he said.
