WHO urged European countries to act …

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday expressed concern over persistent or long-lasting covid and urged the 53 countries that make up the European region to act against this new disease in a multidisciplinary approach, to develop treatments, promote research and promote measures aimed at protecting the work and social rights of those affected.

Long covid, as some specialists call it, affects a quarter of patients one month after overcoming SARS-CoV-2 infection and one in ten to twelve weeks after discharge. According to a report prepared by the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, it is the persistence of certain symptoms such as muscle pain, chest pain, fatigue, breathing problems and fainting.

The likelihood of suffering from this disease, the report raises, does not appear to be associated with the severity of the initial infection. What we observe among the cases detected, according to the study of the Observatory, is that certain groups are apparently more prone to suffer from it, such as health workers and women.

“It’s a disease that can have a huge impact on people’s lives. Many are unable to return to work or socializeMany have described how it affects their mental health, especially since its course often varies, ”Martin McKee, one of the report’s authors, said at a press conference.

That is why, underlined the director of WHO-Europe, Hans Kluge, those who suffer from this disease “must be heard”. Long-term covid, he insisted, It is a “clear priority” for this body and it should also be “for each health authority”, Therefore, he called on member countries to develop a comprehensive research program to maximize the impact of treatments and improve their long-term outcomes.

With this goal, the official announced, national health officials will soon be called together to agree on a common strategy.

Coronavirus in Europe and new variants

As reported by the WHO at Thursday’s conference, the number of covid-19 cases in Europe is close to 38 million, with 850,000 deaths. Although the number of new infections has halved since the end of last year, the current figures are ten times higher than in May and most countries have high or very high levels of community transmission.

However, Kluge reiterated the WHO hypothesis that the pandemic could end in early 2022, which does not imply that the virus has been completely eradicated. Despite the optimism of the organization, he clarified that the virus evolution is unpredictable and everything will depend on individual and collective behavior.

One of the main concerns, in this sense, is the new mutations of the coronavirus that have emerged in recent months, notably those in the United Kingdom – which has already spread to half of the Member States in the European region and continues to grow. -, South Africa and Brazil.

“The best strategy to reduce the appearance of new variants and control them is to eliminate the transmission of the virus. The more we can suppress transmission, the less likely it is that new ones will emerge and it will be easier to respond to new cases, ”said WHO emergency officer Catherine Smallwood, noting that the mutations force us to rethink strategies to get a better response.

“Viruses only mutate when they replicate, and we’ve seen that before the places where new mutations have appeared are those with strong community transmissionNot New Zealand, Vietnam or Australia, ”McKee added, criticizing those who advocate a large reopening of economies and societies once risk groups are vaccinated.

While the vaccine It is an excellent tool for controlling the virus, WHO experts have warned, this is not a “magic formula”. It is important, in this context, that care measures are maintained and remain attentive to the appearance of new variants, a path that McKee denounced is not at all European countries, since some They don’t make the effort to sequence the samples even though they have the resources to do so.