Contacts of people confirmed to have coronavirus should be properly quarantined, the World Health Organization said on Monday, as the pandemic surges in Europe and North America.
(AFP / MANILA BULLETIN)
WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan linked soaring transmission rates in the northern hemisphere to the failure to implement the vital step rigorously.
He said if he could have one wish, it would be to ensure "every contact of a confirmed case is in quarantine for the appropriate period".
"I do not believe that has occurred systematically, anywhere," he told a virtual press conference from the WHO's headquarters in Geneva, saying it was "a good part of the reason why we're seeing such high numbers".
Ryan said that about half of the 48 countries in the UN health agency's European region had seen roughly 50 percent increases in cases within the past week -- and hospitalisations and death rates were beginning to track those rises.
However, there was hope that deaths and serious cases would not reach the levels seen earlier this year.
Ryan said the average age of sufferers was now much younger, treatment had improved and those infected may have been exposed to lower doses of the virus because of physical distancing and mask wearing.
'Breakneck speed'
The tally of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide passed 40 million on Monday, with more than 1.1 million deaths.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned against people getting fed up with the pandemic and the measures imposed to control it.
"We're in this for the long haul, but there is hope that if we make smart choices together, we can keep cases down," he said.
"I know there is a fatigue but the virus has shown that when we let our guard down, it can surge back at breakneck speed and threaten hospitals and health systems."
The WHO says 42 potential vaccines are now being tested on humans, of which 10 have reached the third and final stage.
A further 156 are being worked on in laboratories with a view to human testing.
Typically, only around one in 10 candidate drugs make it through the trials.
WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that while one or two trials may report data by the end of the year, most would start to do so in early 2021.
High-risk groups across all countries would get the first doses, probably in mid-2021, she said.
"There are some of the vaccines, certainly, that are showing promising results even amongst older people," Swaminathan said, referring to drugs that have completed second-stage tests.
Meanwhile, the WHO teamed up with Kim Sledge from the US disco group Sister Sledge for a remake of their 1979 hit "We Are Family", to stress the UN health agency's call for global solidarity.
Europe tightens virus curbs
A number of European countries took urgent new measures on Monday to combat a second wave of coronavirus infections.
Ireland and Wales became the first EU countries to re-enter lockdown as the number of people who have died from COVID-19 in Europe passed 250,000, according to an AFP tally.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin issued a nationwide ''stay at home'' order from midnight Wednesday, with all non-essential retail businesses to close and bars and restaurants limited to takeaway service only, although schools will remain open.
Wales also announced ''firebreak'' confinement measures for two weeks, ordering the territory's three million residents to stay at home except for very limited purposes such as exercise or work, and banning people from mixing indoors or outdoors.
Many governments are seeking to avoid the costly full-scale lockdowns imposed in the first wave as they battle to keep their economies going.
But in some countries, people are chafing against new restrictions on daily life, and anti-mask protests, court challenges and battles between central and local governments are on the rise.
Belgium -- where hospitalizations rose 100 percent in just the last week -- closed bars and restaurants on Monday for a month and reinforced a curfew overnight.
Italy, the initial epicenter of Europe's outbreak, also announced fresh curbs including earlier closures for bars and restaurants and a push to increase working from home.
In Poland, where around half the country is now designated as a coronavirus ''red zone,'' the government said the national stadium would double as a field hospital to help ease the strain on overwhelmed health facilities.
‘Second wave is here’
Switzerland, meanwhile, made mask-wearing compulsory in indoor public spaces and limited public gatherings after infections doubled over the last week.
''The second wave is here, earlier and stronger than we expected, but we are prepared,'' Swiss Health Minister Alain Berset said.
France imposed its own overnight curfew from the weekend in nine cities including Paris, affecting 20 million people, with a record 32,400 new infections reported on Saturday.
Slovenia followed suit, with its roughly two million inhabitants forced to stay home between 9:00 pm and 6:00 am from Tuesday and banned from non-essential travel.
While European nations imposed new restrictions, Australia's second-biggest city of Melbourne eased its lockdown on Monday, as residents flocked to reopened hair salons and golf courses that had been closed for more than 100 days.
Just four cases were recorded Monday in Victoria state, of which Melbourne is the capital.