Europe can fight virus without lockdowns

Europe can combat the coronavirus without full lockdowns now that authorities are better prepared and have gained knowledge about how to fight it in recent months, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday.

"With the basic nationwide and additional targeted measures, we are in a much better position to stamp out these localised virus flare-ups," the head of the WHO's European branch, Hans Kluge, told reporters.

"We can manage the virus and keep the economy running and an education system in operation," he added.

Europe has seen a steady rise in the number of cases for the past two months, he said.

In the first week of August, 40,000 more cases were reported than in the first week of June when cases were at their lowest.

"But we are not in February, we can manage the virus differently now than we did when Covid-19 first emerged," Kluge said.

In addition to calling for good hand hygiene, social distancing measures and national testing and tracing programmes, the WHO recommended that additional measures be adopted locally when clusters arise.

On average, 26,000 new cases are being reported everyday in Europe, according to the WHO. Young people, who tend to experience milder symptoms and lower mortality rates, account for a growing share of cases.

However, Kluge stressed the importance of reopening schools as countries gradually return to normal, noting the negative consequences that school closures have had on children.

In South Korea, authorities said coronavirus infections are back "in full swing" and spreading nationwide after members of a church attended a political demonstration, threatening one of the world's Covid-19 success stories.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 288 new cases as of midnight on Wednesday, marking a week of triple-digit daily increases, although down slightly from the previous day's 297.

"This is a grave situation that could possibly lead to a nationwide pandemic," Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip told a briefing.

Without aggressive contact tracing, the country could experience the types of spikes and continued infections witnessed in the United States and Europe, said KCDC deputy director Kwon Jun-wook.

"Consider the Covid-19 pandemic now to be in full-swing."

INDIA REGISTERS NEW PEAK

India has recorded nearly 70,000 new cases in the past 24 hours, which is the biggest single-day spike so far. According to the Health Ministry update yesterday morning, the country saw 69,651 new cases over the past 24 hours.

With the nearly 70,000 new cases, India's coronavirus tally now stands at 28,36,925. Apart from the case spike, 977 deaths were also recorded on Wednesday, taking the Covid-19 death toll to 53,866.

In the United States, the country's top infectious diseases official, Anthony Fauci, said the government would not make any future Covid-19 vaccine obligatory for the general public.

But he said local jurisdictions could make it mandatory for some groups, like children.

"You don't want to mandate and try and force anyone to take a vaccine. We've never done that," said Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, during a video talk Wednesday organised by George Washington University.

His comments came hours after Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that coronavirus vaccines, once approved, would be mandatory for everyone in his country barring medical exemptions.

The pandemic has killed at least 787,918 people worldwide since surfacing in China late last year, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP yesterday.

More than 22.4 million cases have been registered.

VACCINE DEAL

The EU said yesterday it has concluded talks with German pharmaceutical firm CureVac, aiming to secure 225 million doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine.

It is the fourth agreement the bloc has reached with companies working on a potential vaccine against the virus, after deals with Sanofi-GSK, Johnson and Johnson and AstraZeneca.

"The envisaged contract with CureVac would provide for the possibility for all EU member states to purchase the vaccine," the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, said in a statement.

An agreement to buy the vaccine will come once it has been shown to be safe and effective, the commission said.