The World Health Organization has recently reported a further increase in new cases of coronavirus in the past few weeks in nearly all countries around the world including those which imposed strict restrictions. For instance, the spread of coronavirus in Europe has also increased even though most of the countries took early action for controlling the virus.
According to the list released by the European division of the WHO, an increase of 200,000 has been reported in nearly all countries in the continent with Russia, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Germany, and Spain having the highest daily toll in the past fourteen days.
In addition to these countries, others such as France and Italy are also experiencing a rise in cases even though the transmission had been reduced and controlled significantly in the past few months.
This was done via imposing strict rules for the coronavirus even without lockdown. Most countries have laws for crowd control in public places as well as for wearing a mask, which is two of the most important steps for ending the ongoing pandemic.
However, if coronavirus in Europe had been controlled to an extent, why are the number of cases rising once again in the continent?
The assistant professor in the department of hygiene and epidemiology at Medical University in Bulgaria, Dimitar Marinov, the increase in cases is a result of the relaxation of certain measures after the control of transmission of the virus.
As the number of cases went down in several European countries, the regulations were coronavirus were eased.
Though it has been noted that many people continued to wear masks and follow similar preventive measures, the reopening of certain places made it difficult to continue to follow the steps.
For example, a number of countries reopened public spaces including bars and restaurants. These are places where people cannot wear a face mask all the time or even maintain social distance.
With the reopening of businesses across the continent, countries also opened borders for incoming tourists and travelers. Although travelers from specific countries were allowed, it still paved the way for increasing summertime travel.
After the end of the lockdown and opening of borders, many people traveled even within the continent. The rise in cases was expected by the majority of the health experts especially after ending stricter restrictions for the virus.
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However, the main problem was the very rapid increase in some of the countries which also do not have enough facilities to deal with a second and possibly worse wave of coronavirus. This includes Eastern European and Balkan countries.
Some are also reporting shortages of personal protective equipment (PPEs) as well as lack of space for new patients.
According to health experts, the increase may hint at the start of the second wave of coronavirus in Europe. The number of new cases may further go up rapidly in the coming few weeks if people continue to not follow preventive measures and businesses keep operating.
To avoid this from happening, countries should re-consider imposing some of the previous restrictions on coronavirus as soon as possible.
