“What we are seeing now is clearly a second wave of infection and we expect it to get even worse.” This is what Agoritsa Baka, who is an expert on crisis preparedness at the EU’s infection control authority ECDC, says.
On Friday, the authority will present a new assessment of the corona situation, which underlines the seriousness of the situation.
– We are clearly in a second wave. We expect a continued increase in the number of infected, says Agoritsa Baka.
The EU’s infection control authority analyzes and interprets data from EU countries and it is the 13th time since the outbreak of the pandemic that an assessment of the situation has been made.
The report states that the spread of infection has increased steadily since August, with a sharp escalation in recent weeks.
As that the spread of infection increases, it will be more difficult to protect the elderly from infection, but it is also inevitable that we will see more seriously ill people outside the risk groups as well, ECDC writes in the report.
Agoritsa Baka emphasizes the most important advice to the Member States:
– Continue to invest in infection tracing, provide support for testing and prepare healthcare for increased pressure and protect the vulnerable population.
The countries that report the most cases are the Czech Republic, Belgium, France, Spain and now also Italy.
Still is the death toll lower than last spring and we have become better at treating the disease, states Agoritsa Baka. Nevertheless, there is cause for concern. In the previous assessment from ECDC, the spread of infection was most pronounced between the ages of 20 and 40.
Now there has been an increased spread also in older age groups and thus also more patients who need intensive care. Agoritsa Baka also states that we often forget that those who are found sick today, were infected one or more weeks ago.
– The cases we discover now have become ill at least a week ago. This means that we never look at a really current situation but only at such a current picture as it is possible to get. This means that we expect a worsening situation.
Source: ICELAND NEWS