Europe ‘now the epicentre’ of coronavirus pandemic

There are now more daily cases and deaths from coronavirus in Europe than there were at the height of China’s epidemic, the director general of the World Health Organisation has said.

Dr Tedros Adhanom said during a virtual press conference today: ‘Europe has now become the epicentre of the pandemic, with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined apart from China.’ ‘More cases are now being reported every day than were reported in China at the height of its epidemic.

He urged all countries to immediately implement social distancing policies, as well as testing and contact tracing.

‘Any country that looks at the experience of other countries with large epidemics and thinks “That won’t happen to us” is making a deadly mistake.

It can happen to any country. ‘Our message to countries continues to be: You must take a comprehensive approach. Not testing alone, not contact tracing alone, not quarantine alone, not social distancing alone.

Do it all.’ More than 132,000 cases of Covid-19 have now been reported to the WHO from 123 countries and territories.

Five thousand people worldwide have lost their lives, something Dr Tedros described as a ‘tragic milestone’. He added the WHO was launching a solidarity response plan which would allow people and organisations to help fund masks, gloves, gowns and goggles for heath workers, as well as diagnostic kits and investment in research and development, including for vaccines