WHO warns European countries to be extremely cautious about lifting emergency measures

(Patria) – The number of coronavirus infections in Europe has approached one million, and European countries should be extremely cautious about easing restrictive measures, said the regional director of the World Health Organization on Thursday.

- The number of infected people in the region continues to rise. In the past 10 days, the number of cases in Europe has almost doubled and approached one million, stressed Hans Kluge from WHO Europe.

Kluge also said that this data indicates that half of the total burden of the pandemic is in Europe, where more than 84,000 people have died from the disease. 'The cloud of the pandemic is still over Europe,' he warned in the context of the intention of some European countries to relax restrictive measures.

Global companies and politicians are extremely concerned about the consequences of the economic slowdown, and countries such as Germany, Spain, Denmark and others have already begun easing some measures.

Kluge emphasized that WHO is aware of concerns about economic consequences, but that it is necessary to make every transition safe and justified.

To proceed with the relaxation of restrictions, each country must first determine that the transmission of the infection is under control, that the risks of its spread are minimized, and that the country's health system has the capacity to identify, test, monitor and isolate the infected.

'We are in the middle of a storm... If you are not able to ensure that these criteria will be met before you ease restrictions, please reconsider,' Kluge said, adding that 'there is no fast track to normalcy,' Reuters reports.