Despite relatively encouraging figures, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) warns that the situation related to the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to deteriorate due to variants of the virus. In a new risk assessment published on Monday 15 February, it calls for continued pressure and even recommends avoiding non-essential travel.
At this stage, most Member States record the presence of the English variant, which has led to a total of 5,700 infections in the European Union/European Economic Area. In Ireland, the English variant represents 3 out of 4 cases and 1 out of 2 in Portugal.
However, this variant has a higher transmission rate, the ECDC points out. As a result, it notes, “the evidence of greater severity and the risk that vaccines are less effective against variants, combined with the fact that variants are expected to spread, the risk associated with contamination is high to very high for the entire population and very high for vulnerable individuals”.
The Centre suggests that, without the maintenance or strengthening of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) over the next few months, a significant increase in Covid-19-related cases and deaths in the EU/EEA can be expected.
Link to the new risk assessment: https://bit.ly/3aiZZ5I (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)