The European Union is still in the containment phase amid an outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, but given rapid development of the situation, the bloc's health system must be ready to deal with an increased number of cases, Stella Kyriakides, the EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said on Wednesday
MOSCOW/BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th February, 2020) The European Union is still in the containment phase amid an outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, but given rapid development of the situation, the bloc's health system must be ready to deal with an increased number of cases, Stella Kyriakides, the EU Commissioner for Health and food Safety, said on Wednesday.
"In the EU, we are still in the containment phase. It is important to underline this. But given how quickly the situation can change, as we have seen over the past days, even if we are currently in the containment phase, our public healthcare response across the EU must be ready to deal with increased numbers of COVID-19 infection cases," Kyriakides said at a press conference in Rome.
The official added that all countries within the bloc needed to inform the European Commission on their preparedness plans to counter coronavirus.
"To this effect, we have requested member states to review their pandemic plans as well as healthcare capabilities, including capacity for diagnosing, laboratory testing and procedures for contact tracing. All member states need to inform us about their preparedness plan and how they propose to implement them," Kyriakides said.
On Wednesday, the Italian health authorities reported that the number of coronavirus cases in the country reached 374. After Italy, Germany has seen the most COVID-19 cases in Europe � 21 people have tested positive for the virus, according to the BILD newspaper. Two new cases were confirmed on Wednesday, the newspaper reported, citing a hospital in the southwestern German city of Tubingen.
Moreover, one suspected coronavirus case prompted a lockdown of the Bundeswehr's Cologne-Wahn airbase in the country's northwest, according to BILD.
According to the latest official data, over 81,200 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported worldwide, leading to the deaths of over 2,750 people. More than 30,000 people have been cured, including over 2,600 people who have recovered in the last 24 hours.
