Epidemiologist: Europe may be too late to stop a second wave of COVID-19

Countries across the continent have facilitated the impasses and reopening of restaurants, retail shops and offices in an effort to start their economies.

But relaxed restrictions have seen an increase in infections that put Europe in a vulnerable position.

“Virus hasn't slept during the summer, so he hasn't taken a vacation and this is something we now see,” said Andrea Ammon, director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

Professor Mark Awoolhouse, an epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh, said that while initial impasses had helped slow the escalating epidemic and reduce the number of cases, “ai was simply pushing the problem several months later. ”

And we're now facing the problem we had in March, that the virus is there, it has the potential to cause a major epidemic just like it did in March; in that direction, we're not even before, we're just delaying everything, “he said.

He added that countries now have better supervision and may have more targeted local deadlocks, but careful monitoring is vital.