"It's a moment where countries do not want to hear bad news but it’s going to get tougher," said Hans Kluge, Europe director for the World Health Oganization. "In October, November, we are going to see more mortality in Europe."
The continent is in the midst of a resurgence in Covid-19 cases, with France and Spain setting new record highs in recent days, though the number of deaths has remained relatively stable.
The French Public Health Agency (Santé Publique France) announced 7,186 new confirmed cases on Sunday, with 66 new clusters identified.
- 'Playtime is over': French doctors urge Covid-19 ban on private gatherings
- France's daily Covid-19 infections top 10,000 for first time
Frédérique Vidal, the French Higher Education minister, called for renewed efforts to fight the spreading of the virus as “more than a dozen clusters” have been identified in universities.
In the north-eastern city of Rennes, 43 medicine students tested positive over the week-end. According to the regional health agency (ARS), they caught the disease while out in bars.
COVID-19 😷| 35 cas confirmés parmi des étudiants en médecine rennais.
— ARS Bretagne (@ArsBretagne) September 13, 2020
▶️La fac suspend les cours en présentiel pour 7 jours pour les 2e et 3e année.
▶️Pour eux, dépistage et réduction ++ de leurs interactions sociales.
L’ARS poursuit ses investigations : https://t.co/dDqLmORc43
Vidal warned of a relaxed attitude towards social distancing and other measures to avoid contamination.
The minister is to meet higher education officials today as well as students’ organisations “to work on how to enforce safety measures throughout this new academic year”.
The WHO's 55 European member states are to hold their first ever online Regional Committee for Europe, #RC70Europe, on Monday and Tuesday to discuss their response to Covid-19 and agree on their overall five-year strategy.
“Our role is to act as a catalyst, shifting political thinking to prioritize health on gov. agendas... So much is at stake, but so much is possible” - @SenatoreMonti, Chair of the Pan-European Commission on Health & Sustainable Dev. presents at #RC70Europe pic.twitter.com/l5wVZnTPv5
— Hans Kluge (@hans_kluge) September 14, 2020
Kluge warned against counting on the development of a vaccine to bring the pandemic to an end.
"I hear the whole time: 'the vaccine is going to be the end of the pandemic'. Of course not!" he said. "We don't even know if the vaccine is going to help all population groups. We are getting some signs now that it will help for one group and not for the other.”
French doctors published an open letter where they are urging the population to be more vigilant and to avoid private gatherings among friends and families.
They gave the English city of Birmingham as an example, which banned household meetings.
