The EU urges countries to take "immediate action" to curb a second wave of the virus

With cases on the rise in most countries, the fall just into and flu season just around the corner, the European Commission and the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) have launched a worrisome global alert.

"In some Member States the situation is now even worse than during the peak of March," said Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides on Thursday during the presentation of the latest data from the risk assessment report prepared by the ECDC.

"The long-awaited and necessary lifting of restrictions during the beginning of the summer has led us to what we have been warning continuously," stressed the commissioner.

Faced with a scenario in which the vaccine is still months away, the feeling of being close to the cliff again is evident.

"All States have to develop immediate and timely measures as soon as they see the first signs of outbreaks," added the commissioner.

"It could be the last chance to avoid a situation like the one in March."

The report presented confirms an uneven increase according to the countries, but makes express reference to the most worrying group: those in which the increase in positives detected coincides with a high number of serious cases and also deaths reported.

"For the vulnerable population [in these countries] the risk is very high," said the director of the ECDC, Andrea Ammon, who also warned of an extremely worrying fact.

Together with the greater capacity of the States to carry out tests, which has led to an obvious increase in the total number of cases detected, this August the percentage of positives among those who take these tests began to rise gradually and inexorably, to the point of touching 5% on average.

Although during the press conference no express reference was made to Spain, faced with the insistent question about one of the current epicenters of the pandemic, he commented that at the moment they are still only observing "localized outbreaks."

“What we see in many countries,” Dr. Ammon explained, “is that a lot of the broadcasts are due to private meetings.

Holidays, large family gatherings, weddings and other situations that occur with friends and family.

This is what in many countries the epidemiological drawing is leading ”.

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