• Direct: last minute of the coronavirus in Spain
  • Data: Map of the incidence of Covid-19 in Spain, municipality by municipality
  • Figures: Spain has an excess mortality of 30%
  • Health: One in five patients hospitalized for Covid-19 dies

From the Regional Office for Europe of the World Health Organization (WHO), its director Hans Klug has assessed this Thursday the pandemic in the old continent and has been emphatic in stating that "the best way to protect the economy is by protecting the population . " Another of his leitmotivs has been that " no one will be safe until everyone is ."

Past four months since the onset of the pandemic and its first cases in Europe, Kluge wanted to assess the situation and has begun providing the press conference case data Covid-19 of the 53 European countries, where 900 million people live. Thus, to date there are more than 2 million confirmed cases and some 175,000 deaths .

"An alarming fact is that we have verified an excess of more than 159,000 deaths during the pandemic, as reported by the 24 European countries," said Kluge. Only in Spain the excess of deaths has already reached 43,000 , according to the MOMO data from the Carlos III Institute. This represents 27% of the total deaths that occur in Europe .

Thus, only four countries add up to the bulk of the dead. Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom and France accumulate 72% of deaths in Europe . However, the five countries that have accumulated the most cases in the last 14 days have been: Russia, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Belarus and Italy.

Analyzing the figures, 94% of coronavirus deaths have been in people over 60, and 59% of people were men. Kluge has also pointed out that at least 97% of the deceased had previous pathologies , with cardiovascular diseases being the top of comorbidities.

Economic aspect

Focusing on the economic aspect, Kluge has ensured that virus control and economic recovery go hand in hand. " We can build a more equal and inclusive economy ," he said.

Referring to the future, he has acknowledged that Europe is entering a recession and has spoken of a collapse in the first half of 2020 . Specifically, he has referred to a contraction in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of approximately 7.5% this year, "the largest since the great financial crisis of 2009", and he has predicted that in 2021 it will be 6%.

In this sense, the fear in the WHO is that countries will react the same as they did 10 years ago , cutting public spending on health . In fact, between 2008 and 2013 public health expenditure per person in Europe fell by half.

Kluge has referred to the fact that the Covid-19 crisis has affected the vulnerable population the most and, in this context, he has highlighted two countries with the implementation of measures: Uzbekistan and Spain, "where aid programs have been introduced for the income "-the so-called minimum income- " for the homeless and income security policies have been developed. "

Thus, he has summarized that the whole of society must learn from lessons from the past, such as the Great Depression , and he has mentioned some lessons that the crisis has taught. One of them is to provide for the global supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) .

Of course, it has given as an example to the Scandinavian countries in terms of coordination between the public and their rulers in taking and taking measures and responsibilities.

Other speakers also spoke at the press conference, such as Catherine Smallwood, the head of the WHO health emergencies program, who stressed the importance of continuing to identify close contacts of positive cases , even when the specific treatment for Covid-19 already exists.

At the same time, he has referred to the variety of tests used by the different countries , and has put on the table the need for a comparative study on the results.

In accordance with the criteria of The Trust Project

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