EU warns, urging measures to avoid new lockdowns
The European Commission urged member nations on Thursday to step up preparations against the new surge of coronavirus infections and recommended common measures to roll out vaccines should they become available. With new cases hitting about 100,000 daily, Europe has by a wide margin overtaken the United States, where an average of more than 51,000 COVID-19 infections is reported every day.
"Time is running out," said EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, urging greater coordination in tracing infections. "Everyone's first priority should be to do what it takes to avoid the devastating consequences of generalised lockdowns."
She also called on EU governments to adopt a common strategy for the roll out of vaccines as soon as they become available, giving priority to inoculations for the most vulnerable people. There is little time left for such preparations as the first such shots could be available at the beginning of next year, Kyriakides added.
Health policy is a national prerogative in the 27-country bloc and the EU Commission can only make recommendations for common measures. Hospitals and vaccination services should be properly staffed with skilled workers equipped with necessary protective gear, the Commission said, urging governments to avoid the shortages evidenced when the epidemic flared in March.
Vaccines should be made available first to the most vulnerable groups, which include healthcare and long-term care facility workers, people over 60, those with chronic diseases, essential workers, and more disadvantaged socioeconomic groups. A conservative estimate the Commission made in July puts people belonging to "priority groups" at more than 200 million among a total EU population of 450 million. But on Thursday Kyriakides said the portion of the EU population to be prioritised would be decided depending on the vaccines that could be available. The Commission also called on EU governments to prepare for the possible distribution of vaccines that may need to be stored at extremely low temperatures. Meanwhile, the proportion of contacts of positive COVID-19 reached by England's test and trace service dropped again to 62.6% in the latest week, well short of a target of 80% of contacts reached, statistics published by the health ministry said.
Europe's richest city with 9 million people, was heading for a tighter COVID-19 lockdown from midnight on Friday as Prime Minister Boris Johnson tried to tackle a swiftly accelerating second coronavirus wave. The disease, which emerged in China last year and has killed over a million people worldwide, is spreading in most parts of the United Kingdom, whose official death toll of 43,155 is the highest in Europe.
Anger, though, is rising over the economic, social and health costs of the biggest curtailment of freedoms since wartime: one former government adviser warned some people would have trouble clothing their children soon. Health Secretary Matt Hancock will address parliament at around 1030 GMT: he is expected to announce changes to the government's patchwork of threetier local lockdowns. London will move to "high" alert level from "medium" at midnight on Friday, The Times reported. "It is my expectation that the government will today announce that London will shortly be moving into tier 2 or the high alert level of restrictions," added mayor Sadiq Khan, saying nobody wanted the measures but action had to come fast.