A nurse prepares the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Sarcelles near Paris on January 10, 2021.
ALAIN JOCARD | AFP | Getty Images
LONDON – As coronavirus vaccines are still being rolled out in major economies around the world, attention is being drawn again to current exclusion strategies in an effort to eliminate new cases of the virus.
Some experts have called for a “zero-covid” strategy, which calls for very strict closures, social restrictions and travel bans to eradicate all cases of the virus before reopening public and business life.
Countries such as New Zealand and Australia opted for this approach and closed their countries early in the pandemic to prevent new cases. Some experts in Ireland also call their success with the strike pandemic a “zero-covid” approach, although there is disagreement as to whether such a policy will work there, given Northern Ireland’s open border with the rest of the UK.
Experts from the World Health Organization said on Thursday that it was too early and difficult in practice for Europe to consider a “zero-covid” approach.
“Elimination is something we want in principle for any disease, for any pathogen, and it can be a very powerful work incentive. But whether we are at the stage now – to set targets for a ‘zero Covid’ strategy is still another ball game, ‘said Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, the WTO’s regional director for Europe, at a press conference on Thursday.
‘What we need to do in the first place is to see how the behavior of the people, how they comply with the non-pharmaceutical interventions, the timing of political decisions with the vaccination of the vaccine and how it will control the pandemic bring. “
Zero Covid strategies are based on the ban on incoming travel, but some countries were easier to restrict or “isolate from international travel” than others, Kluge said. Many countries in Europe have banned travel bans except essentials. Forced hotel quarantines for travelers to the UK are now on the map, although critics say the move is too little, too late.
A silver lining for closures is provided by vaccination and coupled with restrictions on public life, a decline in new cases and hospital admissions is slowly being seen.
Kluge said the European region, which for the WHO consists of 53 countries, is seeing a decline in new cases over the past four weeks and deaths over the past two weeks. Yet more than 1 million cases are reported each week in the European region, Kluge says, and the spread of new variants remains a major concern.
Vaccines are already working on second-generation shots to target variants of the virus. Concerns and caution about mutations lead governments to be on their guard when they lock up.
First, Germany extended its exclusion until early March against the background of concerns about the spread of a variant first discovered in the UK. According to the WHO, the variant has now been reported in more than 80 countries, he said was on course “to sweep the world in all likelihood.”
Kluge said that the locking “should be done gradually and safely,” the biggest mistake being to lower our wait (too soon).
Dr Catherine Smallwood, senior emergency officer in the WTO’s Europe team, said the virus would benefit from easing restrictions too soon.
‘This virus will take advantage of every opportunity we give to spread quickly, and it will spread much faster than we think … Every time we lift a restriction, every time we become a part of our society open, the balance in favor of the virus. ‘
She warned that transmission rates would remain high and that it could support vaccination programs if they were reduced.