Europe Is Witnessing the Second Wave of Coronavirus Pandemic
The scenario of Spain shows a resurgence of COVID-19, and therefore, Europe is now facing questions. The country has already been in trauma with more than 181,000 deaths due to global pandemic. So, it is now a big confusion about whether the country will be able to combat the effects of a second wave of the coronavirus, and how? There are reports of new cases every day from various parts of Europe. Talking about Spain, the government is thinking of implementing drastic measures to control the situation. Besides, expert epidemiologists believe that a second wave of the virus is inevitable in Europe whatsoever. However, the question is whether the new wave will show in the form of manageable ripples in regional levels, or rush in like a Tsunami.
A professor of mathematical epidemiology, Gerardo Chowell says that it is now a matter of time to understand the trend of the pandemic. Gerardo, who is also a chair of the Department of Population Health Sciences at the Georgia State University School of Public Health analyzes the situation. According to him, the number of virus waves in Europe will decide the opening of the economy. He adds that everyone must be ready to face the upcoming situation. Besides, it is also required that we all should think of measures to control it. Well, it is tough, but not at all difficult to do so.
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Analysis by the Spanish Health Ministry
According to the Health Ministry of Spain, the current project in their minds has all the chances of going wrong. You can take the example of what happened in Spain that reports 6,361 new coronavirus cases since Friday, July 24. Plus, there was an addition of around 850 cases within the very next 24 hours. On the other hand, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declares that there have been 146,546 reported deaths due to coronavirus in the past few months. After Sunday, July 26, the figure if new cases in the U.S. has reached a peak of 4.23 million.
Experts believe that it is not very difficult to decode the reason for the new cases in Spain. Besides, there is an obvious reason that suggests the probability of a younger adult getting affected rather than the older generation. The main reason is not maintaining proper social distancing while they are gathering at clubs, bars, beaches, and parties. Ultimately, the entire situation is resulting in the people contaminating each other. On the contrary, people coming to Barcelona from Lleida to shop for vegetables and fruits are either sleeping on the streets or crowding in small quarters. It is another probable way of getting infected. Lleida is situated around 96 miles (156 kilometers) from Barcelona.
Condition of Britain and France
During the last week, the British government has decided and declared a rule that is mandatory for every person who is entering the UK from Spain. They must get into self-isolation for the next 14 days from their arrival. If a person does not abide by the rule, he will have to face severe penalization, and a term in jail as well. On the other hand, Jean Castex, the Prime Minister of France announced on Friday, July 24 that the people there will not get permission to travel to Catalonia, a city in Spain. So, they will have to hold on until situations are a bit on the better side in Spain. The Government of Spain believes that although there is a second wave of outbreak, quarantining is completely unwarranted.
According to Arancha Gonzalez, the Foreign Minister of Spain, the country is not unsafe for people. He adds that there is a second outbreak. However, it is not unusual because several countries are now witnessing the same. In this context, a few of the local Spanish government decisions are facing quite a bit of criticism. It is all because of their carelessness regarding some of the most sensitive aspects of the situation. Plus, experts believe that the health facilities in Spain are still not up to the mark.
Alex Arenas says that the public in Catalonia immediately requires at least 2,000 contact tracers to control the situation. Arenas is an epidemiological modeler and researcher at the Rovira University I Virgili, in the Tarragona province of Spain. The expert researcher adds that the approximate number of cases the local government of Catalonia projects to remain stable was extremely unrealistic too. Arenas said that the reports by the Catalonian government are still very confusing and unclear.
Efforts to control the situation
An associate professor of infectious diseases and global health at the Germans Trias I Pujol hospital in Spain, Oriol Mitjà says that the country’s medical experts are still not capable enough of handling epidemics and infectious diseases. However, they are experts in handling any type of non-communicable issue. Well, if Spain declares that a certain place has an alarming rate of new COVID-19 cases, it is evident that the case will be the same for the rest of Europe too. Therefore, it is a must that everyone in the country must think of better ways to control the situation.
The increasing rate of newer cases in Europe seems to have become more stable. Countries such as the U.K., Albania, and Spain are constantly reporting newer cases of the coronavirus every day. It seems that Europe is under a transition phase. Moreover, experts such as Flavia Riccardo believes in the same. Riccardo is an epidemiologist working at the Ministry of Health of Italy. On the other hand, government health officers are rushing against time to improve the condition of their monitoring systems. For example, the capacity of the intensive care unit, and the contact tracing facilities. These are two of the major matters of concern. It seems that they are trying out every way to control the impact of the second coronavirus outbreak in Europe, especially the U.K. and Spain.
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