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COVID-19 - ‘It is a decisive moment, it might be our last chance to prevent a repeat of last spring’

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Today (24 September) the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) published its updated risk assessment showing an upsurge in notified cases across the EU and UK since August.

Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides said: “Today's new risk assessment clearly shows us that we cannot lower our guard. With some member states experiencing higher numbers of cases than during the peak in March, it is abundantly clear that this crisis is not behind us. We are at a decisive moment, and everyone has to act decisively… This might be our last chance to prevent a repeat of last spring.”

Kyriakides said that the high levels mean that control measures have simply not been effective enough, not been enforced or not been followed as they should have been.

The Commission outlined five areas were action needs to be stepped up: testing and contact tracking, improving public healthcare surveillance, ensuring better access to personal protective equipment and medicines, and ensuring sufficient health capacity.

Andrea Ammon, Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, said: “We are currently seeing a worrying increase in the number of COVID-19 cases detected in Europe. Until there is a safe and effective vaccine available, rapid identification, testing, and quarantine of high-risk contacts are some of the most effective measures to reduce transmission. It is also everyone's responsibility to maintain the necessary personal protective measures such as physical distancing, hand hygiene and staying at home when feeling ill. The pandemic is far from over and we must not drop our guard.”

Free movement

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The European Commission has proposed a coordinated approach on free movement restrictions to ensure more predictability for citizens; during the summer chaotic announcements made it impossible for many citizens to know where and when they could or could not go on holiday. The Commissioner said that they had not yet been able to reach a consensus with member states on this proposal.

'A vaccine is not a silver bullet'

Kyriakides said that with a COVID-19 vaccine being months away, she was deeply concerned by what we are seeing now and what may follow in the coming weeks and months. She said that it needed to be undertood that finding the vaccine will not be a silver bullet.

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