NOT OVER
A SECOND coronavirus wave will hit Europe this winter if lockdowns are lifted too early, a top World Health Organisation official has warned.
Dr Hans Kluge, the body's director for the European region, said that governments should be cautious when lifting restrictions and that now is the "time for preparation, not celebration".
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Speaking to the Telegraph, he said a second wave of the killer bug, which has infected 4.5million worldwide, and killed about 300,000, could hit Europe alongside an outbreak of other infectious diseases.
“I’m very concerned about a double wave – in the fall, we could have a second wave of Covid and another one of seasonal flu or measles," he said.
"People think lockdown is finished. Nothing has changed.
"The full disease control package has to be in place. That's the key message."
He added that countries would have to proceed "gradually and carefully" until a vaccine had been developed.
The warning comes as the number of coronavirus cases spiral across Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
New studies have also shown that just five per cent of France's and Spain's population have developed immunity to the killer coronavirus.
The research proved "there is no herd immunity in Spain” declared an “unsurprised” Health Minister, Salvador Illa.
The study, carried out by the Carlos III Health Institute and the National Statistics Institute, tested 60,000 people for antibodies created to fight off the new disease.
The results indicate that five per cent - 2.3 million of Spain's 45 million population - have been hit by the bug, about ten times the official count of under 230,000 cases.
FRENCH NOT IMMUNE
And in France, a study led by the Pasteur Institute says a mere 4.4 per cent of the population - or 2.8 million people - have been infected by the virus.
Reuters reports that this figure is much higher than the official count of cases, but way too low to achieve so-called “herd immunity”.
“Around 65 per cent of the population should be immune if we want to control the pandemic by the sole means of immunity”, the study says.
Herd immunity refers to where enough people in a population have protection against an infection to be able to effectively stop that disease from spreading.
The rate of infection was measured on May 11, the day that France started to unwind its almost two-month-long national lockdown.
Researches said: “Our results show that, without a vaccine, the herd immunity alone will not be enough to avoid a second wave at the end of the lockdown.
"Efficient control measures must thus be upheld after May 11."
RESTRICTIONS EASED
Spain's shock study findings comes the country continues to carefully ease restrictions.
"In principle, these results provide no basis on which to vary the plan we are working on," Spain's health minister said.
Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez had said that people would be allowed to leave their homes for short walks and exercise starting on May 2 after seven weeks of strict home confinement.
Just over half of Spain's population then progressed to the second phase of a four-step lockdown-easing plan on Monday.
But Madrid, Barcelona and other cities including Valencia, Malaga and Granada have remained in the preparatory Phase 0.
That level means hairdressers and other businesses offering services by appointment can reopen, restaurants can offer takeaway services, professional sports leagues are able to train. Plus, short walks and individual sporting activities are allowed.
The joint antibody study showed that Madrid, one of the worst-affected regions, showed a coronavirus prevalence of 11.3 per cent.
Soria and Cuenca, in the central regions of Castilla y Leon and Castilla La Mancha, are the provinces with the highest prevalence, with 14.2 and 13.5 per cent respectively.
Spain has a four-phase plan to lift a coronavirus lockdown and return to normal by the end of June.
The country has also imposed a two-week quarantine for foreign travellers and practically shut the border to air and maritime travel to avoid importing new cases from other countries.
Its authorities will keep borders closed to most travellers from abroad until July, two foreign ministry sources said on Wednesday.
There are hopes the move will avoid a second wave of contagion from the coronavirus.
Land borders with France and Portugal have been closed since a state of emergency was declared in mid-March.
To prevent triggering a new wave of infections being imported by travellers from abroad, the government is studying ways of controlling who can enter the country.
ANTIBODY TEST HOPES
Two models proposed are either sanitary corridors or medical-testing requirements.
Countries around the world - including the UK - have been pinning hopes on antibody tests.
In March, PM Boris Johnson said that Britain was hoping to buy an antibody test which would be "as simple as a pregnancy test".
He explained that "obviously it has the potential to be a total game changer" to install confidence in people looking to return to their workplace.
And this week it was announced that the first coronavirus antibody test that could help ease lockdown in the UK has been given the go-ahead by Public Health England.
The potentially game-changing kit was developed by Swiss healthcare company Roche.
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It was given the seal of approval by PHE's Porton Down facility last week - with the government now in talks to buy millions of the tests.
The kit supports the detection of antibodies in patients who have been exposed to coronavirus and will therefore be immune from catching the bug again.
They will be instrumental in the UK lifting strict lockdown measures and allow people to return to work - with the government even suggesting granting "immunity passports" to those who pass the test.
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