Europe has noticed a sharp increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the region, and some countries reported a higher workload than ever before.
In recent weeks, Spain, France and Germany have recorded their highest number of daily infections since April, as foreign travel intensifies one of the most active holiday periods in the region.In an effort to avoid the option of a momentary wave, governments have again imposed restrictions on citizens and renewed quarantine measures for some travellers.
Experts say the accumulation of travel to Europe has in fact contributed to the recent increase in infections.”International travel was very important in sowing infections in Europe in February and March.I think it’s had a significant effect on who we are.”I’ve noticed it in the last six weeks,” says Jennifer Beam Dowd, associate professor of demographics and population health at Oxford University.
Strict closures in the spring have greatly reduced the spread of the virus in Europe, which has reported more than 3.9 million cases since the onset of the pandemic, or 17% of global infections.In mid-June, most of the continent welcomed returning travelers.to help the economy emerge from its innerest recession since World War II.
The tourism-driven economies of France, Italy and Spain will contract by more than 10% this year, the European Commission said on 7 July.
Cases have increased in Europe over the past month, but Spain, Germany, Italy and France experienced sharp increases.
In Spain, where the virus is spreading faster than in any other European country, 8,148 cases were reported on 21 August, the maximum cases since April, according to Johns Hopkins University.In the more than two weeks, more than 78,000 cases have been detected in Spain.Spain, pushing the 14-day infection rate to 175.7, consisting of 100.00 people, compared to 62.8 in France, 22.5 in the UK and 20.3 in Germany, according to E On 25 August, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in the EU.The regions most affected were Madrid, followed by Catalonia and Andalusia.
Italy, once the European epicenter of the virus with more than 35,000 deaths, recorded 1,209 new cases on 23 August, the first time the number exceeded 1,000 since May, when the numbers reached 1,965.led the country in the number of new regional issues.
On 23 August, France recorded 4,897 new infections at its maximum load since mid-April, an increase of more than 1,200 cases since the previous day.Paris and the southern city of Marseille have noticed that weekly infection rates exceed 50, according to the population level of 100,000 inhabitants, which is the limit Germany has set to return to regional blockade measures.On 14 August, the French government declared that these two city spaces are the main threat to the virus.
On 22 August, Germany recorded 2,032 cases, since April, when the number of infections reached more than 5,000.
Even Greece, Malta and Croatia, which had a low number of infections in the spring, have noticed an increase in the number of cases in the past two weeks. Official statistics in Greece published in early August recommend that 10% of new infections are similar to tourism.
Most of Europe sees a replacement in the distribution of new instances of older people to other young people, Dowd says.”It turns out that other older and more vulnerable people are still being cautious,” he says.”There is still fear that in countries like Spain, where there are many intergenerational households, the virus can simply spread to the community at large.”
Experts say yes. The accumulation of restrictions combined with comfort has “almost certainly” led to a build-up of cases, says Martin McKee, European public fitness teacher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.Europeans take regular holidays between the end of July and August, when schools are interrupted during the summer.Grant Shapps, the UK’s transport secretary, said there were 160,000 British tourists in France until mid-August.
In mid-May, Europe began reopening its bars, restaurants and nightclubs, the subject of social estating measures.
The newest case building in France was shown at most in Paris and in southern cities such as Nice, Toulouse and Marseille.”This may be only representative of other people who have moved from a high-transmission domain in France to a declining domain, triggering an epidemic,” says Nathalie MacDermott, Senior Professor of Infectious Diseases at King’s College London.
However, French Health Minister Olivier Véran said in an interview published on 23 August that infections were already spreading among older teams and among the elderly in the Marseille region.
The top of the continent reflects “a lot of other people gathering in poorly ventilated indoor spaces.”Indoor spaces are where danger lies,” McKee says.In a resort, where other people come from many other places, the likelihood of a user ingesting increases,” he says.
Nightclubs in particular are “very conducive” to the spread of a virus, Says MacDermott.”They’re poorly ventilated and almost more unlikely to have social distances,” he says.In one of the largest recent outbreaks in Spain, more than 80 others people tested positive after 400 other people visited nightclubs in the Andalusian city of Córdoba on July 10.
Some recent outbreaks in Spain have also been linked to the arrival of agricultural staff from all over Europe.But “most likely,” McKee says, the accumulation in some cases is due to “tourists in crowded bars, restaurants and nightclubs.”
European governments have imposed new localized restrictions, closed bars and clubs, and greater follow-up and localization efforts.
On 25 August, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that 2,000 members of the armed forces will help regions locate and insinuate those who have come into contact with others inflamed by the virus.”Regions that don’t have enough obstacles can count on our country’s armed forces,” Sanchez said at a press conference.
On 21 August, the government of Madrid said that citizens of the most affected spaces stay at home, while in Catalonia, social gatherings were limited to 10 other people and in Murcia to six.Local locks are more of a way to go, says MacDermott.”If you can involve these epidemics temporarily, I hope it will prevent them from spreading nationally,” he says.
On 17 August, Italy closed nightclubs across the country and made it mandatory to wear masks in some outdoor areas.”We cannot rescind the sacrifices made in recent months,” Health Minister Roberto Speranza said on Facebook.
In France, the government sent 130 police officers to Marseille on August 17 to help enforce the needs of the masks. Masks are mandatory in all shared and closed workspaces, adding open or shared offices, hallways, meeting rooms and changing rooms, starting September 1.
Countries such as the UK and Norway have expanded their list of countries from which visitors will have to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival and have brought swab evidence in recent weeks, the UK has quarantined Spain, France, Croatia and other lists, while excluding countries such as Portugal based on their seven-day infection rates.France, in turn, placed the United Kingdom on its quarantine list on 15 August.
Since 13 August, Italy has been asking others who have stayed or traveled through Croatia, Greece, Malta or Spain to make a negative swab, made within 72 hours of entry to the country, or to take it inside.48 hours. After I got hit there.
Experts say that if visitors remain cautious and high-risk activities, such as going to crowded bars and nightclubs, traveling can be safe.They say the test regimes used in countries like Italy are really effective.
There is a “bigger role for testing, which can just lessen the need for quarantine,” says McKee. This is important, he says, because it is “very likely that many other people who are destined to be quarantined will not do so.” . “McKee says that studies carried out through his branch at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine suggest that tests on arrival and seven days later, with effect the next day, would be enough to find approximately 96% of the cases.
Since the process, whether through exercise or the plane, gets into a crowded indoor space, “it makes sense to restrict it as much as possible, but I don’t think we can justify general bans,” McKee says.It is also “absolutely crucial”for governments to put into position” a comprehensive formula of research, testing, tracking, isolation and support “to stumble upon peaks as temporarily as possible,” he said.Epidemics are going to occur, but it is imperative that they are known as soon as possible.”