The World Health Organization (WHO) regional office for Europe on Wednesday described the continuing fight against COVID-19 in European regions as a "marathon", stressing that it is not time to lower guard and relax measures.
In a video statement to the press in Copenhagen, WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr. Hans Kluge called on all Europeans to stay united and vigilante.
"Knowledge of COVID-19 and some positive signs from some countries do not yet represent victory...Now is not the time to relax measures. It is the time to once again double and triple our collective efforts to drive towards suppression with the whole support of society," Kluge said.
According to Kluge, it was promising to see signs of a decline in the rate of increase in new cases of COVID-19 in some countries following a combination of public health and clinical interventions in contrast to those countries which are experiencing a rapid increase in cases or a fresh new surge.
"Europe remains very much at the center of the pandemic, accounting for about half of those globally, with seven of the top ten countries most affected across the globe being located in the European region," he said.
The director called on all countries to apply a three-pronged approach to help strengthen their activities in fighting the novel coronavirus.
Firstly, countries needed to protect and strengthen the health workforce and health services at all levels to save lives.
Secondly, societies needed to "cut the engine of the pandemic at its source and separate healthy people from suspected and probable cases."
Thirdly, Kluge urged "governments and authorities to maintain command-and-control structures and functions, communicate continuously and engage communities to achieve collective buy-in to current and possible future measures."
Kluge also took the opportunity to slam the politics of division that has crept into the fight against COVID-19, by calling for "solidarity, collective responsibility, and perseverance" which he said was much needed now "more than ever to defeat the virus and leave no one behind."
