Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Official: European Joint Efforts Should be Strengthened to Fight COVID-19


Thu 22 Oct 2020 | 09:20 PM
Ahmed Moamar

President of the European Council, Charles Michel, called today, Thursday, the leaders of the member states of the 28-members bloc to hold an urgent virtual meeting to discuss developments in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) issue.

Michel tweeted today that the Europeans need to strengthen their joint efforts to fight the Coronavirus.

The meeting is scheduled to take place on the 29th of October.

The move comes at a time when most of the member states of the European bloc are witnessing a second wave of the pandemic, which reinforces fears of further economic collapses.

On the other hand, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies across the world called on citizens in European countries to be vigilant in facing the Coronavirus, especially after the intensive care hospital beds were almost filled with people infected with the deadly virus.

The federation indicated in a statement released in Geneva today, Thursday, that the number of cases reported in Europe last week was three times higher than the situation during the first climax of the virus outbreak last March.

The European Union's regional director, Birgit Ipsen, said that the worrying second wave in Europe shows the importance of maintaining vigilance and practicing prevention.

She added that the European region has the second-highest death rate after the Americas and the fastest-growing death rate in the world.

She pointed out that there is a big leap in hospitalization, and many countries are stating that they will reach the capacity of the intensive care beds and their maximum capacity in the coming weeks.

According to the statement, the hospitals have reached their capacity in parts of Belgium and are full in the Czech Republic, France, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine, and Davron Mommadiev, the federation's regional health, and care coordinator warned that the reports indicate that despite the increase in hospitalizations, the time spent in the hospital is longer two to three times.