WHO Warns Europe Is Entering ‘Acute’ Phase Of Pandemic

The World Health Organization (WHO) is warning that Europe is likely entering into the “acute” phase of the COVID-19 pandemic as nations scramble to quell the latest surge in infections.

“Not only are we in the thick of it, we are probably in the European region in the most acute phase of transmission, and we continue to see a really big impact on hospital wards,” said the WHO’s Dr. Catherine Smallwood during an online press briefing, CNBC reported on Thursday (Jan. 7).

“In order to start to change any of that, we really need to bring down transmission and we need to control the spread despite the rollout of vaccinations,” Smallwood added.

Health experts suspect that the latest surge in infections is being fueled in part by the emergence of a more contagious strain of the virus SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. The new strain, which was first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa, has been detected in several nations around the globe, including the United States.

The latest surge has forced several European nations to re-implement national lockdowns or other social distancing measures to help control the spread of the disease. The U.K., in particular, has been extremely hard-hit.

“We were prepared for a challenging start to 2021, and it has been just that,” Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe, said during the press briefing. “This moment represents a tipping point in the course of the pandemic where science, politics, technology and values must form a united front in order to push back this persistent and elusive virus.”

On Wednesday (Jan. 6), Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine was approved for use in the European Union’s 27 member states. The approval is the second by European regulators, who greenlighted a vaccine developed by Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech last month.

To date, Europe has confirmed approximately 27.5 million cases of COVID-19 and 603,563 deaths. Nearly half of Europe’s nations and territories have reported a seven-day incidence rate of 150 new cases per 100,000 people, with more than a quarter of those areas experiencing strains in their healthcare systems, according to WHO statistics cited by CNBC.

During 2020, at least 26 million people in Europe were reported to have contracted the illness, resulting in more than 580,000 deaths, CNBC added.

Economists, meanwhile, are banking on vaccination programs to help jump-start the global economy.

According to The World Bank’s January 2021 Global Economic Prospects, the global economy is anticipated to grow 4 percent this year, provided COVID-19 vaccines are widely launched.

“While the global economy appears to have entered a subdued recovery, policymakers face formidable challenges — in public health, debt management, budget policies, central banking and structural reforms — as they try to ensure that this still-fragile global recovery gains traction and sets a foundation for robust growth,” World Bank Group President David Malpass said in a press release on Tuesday (Jan. 5).

In late November, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a statement that the second wave of the coronavirus is stifling an economic rebound in the eurozone and that additional funding could be necessary.