With more than 3,35,000 deaths and 5.2 million positive cases, the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc across the globe. To prevent possible community spread, most countries imposed strict lockdown measures in April, and now, to avoid an economic collapse, several nations are planning to ease lockdown rules.
Coronavirus Second Wave to Turn Deadly
Dr Andrea Ammon, director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control has warned European Union leaders that the second coronavirus wave could be deadlier than the first outbreak. The expert revealed that the coronavirus has infected 2 to 14 per cent of people in European countries, which means the remaining 86 per cent lack immunity.
Ammon claimed that low infection rates in European countries hint at the fact that nearly 90 per cent of people are vulnerable to coronavirus infection as the second wave of the pandemic breaks out.
"Looking at the characteristics of the virus, looking at what now emerges from the different countries in terms of population immunity- which isn't all that exciting, between two percent and 14 per cent, that leaves still 85 per cent to 90 per cent of the population susceptible – the virus is around us, circulating much more than January and February. I don't want to draw a doomsday picture but I think we have to be realistic. That it's not the time now to completely relax," Ammon told the Guardian.
The Chaos Is Not Over
Ammon warned the current decrease in infection rate is not an indication that the pandemic outbreak is over. She also urged people to follow strict social distancing measures to protect themselves from coronavirus infection.
"I think it's beginning to strain. What we see is that, on the one hand, the economic part for small and medium-sized businesses but also the experience of people not being able to exercise all the freedoms that we normally have: to go where we like, to be with whom we want to be. And this is a quite fundamental change to our normal way of life. And especially now when it is clear infections are going down, people think it is over. Which it isn't, which it definitely isn't," added Ammon.
CDC Warning About Asymptomatic Patients
In a recently published guideline, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that more than one-third of coronavirus patients are asymptomatic, which means they will show no symptoms of infection. CDC added that asymptomatic COVID-19 cases are very challenging to identify because the individual will not be aware of the infection.
