In the risk assessment updated and presented today, ECDC points out that positive cases of infection with the new coronavirus, which causes COVID-19 disease, have increased steadily throughout the European Union since August, which shows that “the measures taken have not always been sufficient to reduce or control exposure ”, warning that“ it is therefore crucial that Member States implement all measures necessary at the first signs of new outbreaks ”.
“The current non-pharmaceutical interventions have not achieved the desired effect, either because adherence to the measures is not ideal or because the measures are not sufficient to reduce or control exposure,” he added.
According to the Center, non-pharmaceutical interventions such as physical distance, hygiene and the use of masks proved to be insufficient to reduce or control exposure to the coronavirus.
Even so, the agency’s director, Andrea Ammon, pointed out that, “until there is a safe and effective vaccine available, these measures remain the main public health tool to control and manage outbreaks” of covid-19.
In this updated assessment, ECDC divided Member States into three groups: those with a “stable trend and reduced risk”, those with a “worrying trend, but a moderate risk” and those with “a worrying trend and a high risk ”.
Portugal is placed in the subgroup with a worrying trend, but with a risk considered moderate, which includes the countries where rates are reported [de infeção] high and increasing due to the high rates of tests performed, and transmission is primarily reported in young individuals, with a low proportion of severe cases and low rates of death notification.
“This represents a moderate overall risk of covid-19 for the general population and for healthcare provision. However, it should be noted that if there is a high volume of transmission over several weeks, protecting vulnerable individuals is a challenge, and since the impact of the disease on these groups is very high, the risk for this population remains to be very high ”.
This subgroup includes Austria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United Kingdom.
According to the ECDC assessment, the states that currently present the highest risk are Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Romania and Spain.
“Today’s new risk assessment shows us clearly that we cannot let our guard down. With some Member States registering a greater number of cases than during the peak of March, it is perfectly clear that this crisis is not behind us ”, commented the European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, in a joint press conference with the director of ECDC.
The Commissioner warned that Europe is now facing “a decisive moment, and everyone must act decisively and use the instruments at their disposal”.
“This means that all Member States should be ready to launch control measures immediately and at the right time, right at the first sign of potential new outbreaks. This could be our last chance to avoid a repeat of last spring, “he warned.
The covid-19 pandemic has already claimed at least 971,677 deaths and more than 31.6 million cases of infection worldwide, according to a report by the French agency AFP.
In Portugal, 1,928 people died from 70,465 confirmed cases of infection, according to the most recent bulletin from the Directorate-General for Health.
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