Mistreated from the start by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Euro continues as best it can despite the ever-present threat.
The quarter-final between Spain and Switzerland will take place on Friday in St. Petersburg, Russia, as the country records daily death records and the WHO does not rule out an impact of the Euro on the virus circulation.
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Until the end, Euro 2020 football will have to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since the start of the competition, several players have already missed matches of their selection after having tested positive for the disease, such as recently the Croatian Ivan Perisic who was unable to participate in the round of 16 of his team against the Spain (Croatia lost 5-3 after extra time).
The disruption extended to fan zones, with the Moscow one shutting down on June 18.
Yet increased gauges for the end of the competition
Cases detected in supporters, exit from the World Health Organization (WHO) on the competition ... Threats accumulate at the end of the Euro, while the semi-finals and the final will take place from 6 to July 11 in front of more than 60,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium in England.
While Russia on Thursday recorded a daily death record for the third day in a row, the host city of St. Petersburg alone recorded 115 new deaths.
A level close to the record established at the beginning of the week.
However, the authorities have maintained in the city the quarter-final between Spain and Switzerland in front of thousands of supporters, especially foreigners, scheduled for Friday.
And this while nearly 300 Finnish supporters, who came to support their team during the group stages, returned from the former Russian capital positive for the new coronavirus, according to Helsinki.
Almost 2,000 positive Scots participated in Euro events
Russia is not the only country concerned. In a report released on Wednesday, the Scottish Public Health Agency established that between June 11 and June 28, 1,991 Scottish residents who tested positive for Covid-19 participated in one or more Euro-related events "during their period infectious ", that is to say" the period during which they may have unknowingly transmitted their infection to others ". Identified events include, for example, a game in Hampden Park, Glasgow, or Wembley, a rally in the "Glasgow Green" fan zone or informal gatherings in a bar or home.
The study points out that almost two thirds of the cases are linked to people having traveled to London for an event on the Euro.
And nearly 400 cases concern supporters who attended the England-Scotland match at Wembley on June 18.
For this match, the "Tartan Army", the Scottish supporters, had turned out en masse in the streets of London.
The WHO does not exclude a role "supercontaminant" of the Euro
Faced with these situations and to avoid a perilous end of Euro, the WHO recommended Thursday that the host cities of the last matches of the Euro football ensure better monitoring of the movement of spectators, including before their arrival and after leaving the stadium. "We need to look well beyond the stadiums themselves," Catherine Smallwood, an official for the European branch of the WHO, said during a press briefing, when asked about recommendations in the face of the increase in cases. in London and St. Petersburg.
Asked about the risk that the Euro has played or plays the role of "super-contaminant", the director of WHO Europe Hans Kluge replied: "I hope not, but I cannot rule it out". "What we have to look at around the stadiums is how people get there, are they moving in crowded bus convoys or are they applying individual measures," said Catherine. Smallwood. With a goal; live an end of Euro as quiet as possible.