Too early to ease virus curbs in Europe, says WHO

Hans Kluge, the WHO's regional director for Europe, said 30 of the WHO European region's 53 countries had "seen a significant decrease in 14-day cumulative incidence."

AFP

January 28, 2021 / 06:35 PM IST

The World Health Organization's European branch on Thursday said it is too early to ease virus restrictions in Europe despite a drop in new cases in most countries.

Hans Kluge, the WHO's regional director for Europe, said 30 of the WHO European region's 53 countries had "seen a significant decrease in 14-day cumulative incidence."

"Yet, transmission rates across Europe are still very high, impacting health systems and straining services, making it too early to ease up," Kluge told an online press conference.

The regional director also noted that since only three percent of people in the region had already had a confirmed infection, areas that had been "hit badly once can be hit again."

Follow our LIVE blog for latest updates of the novel coronavirus pandemic

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

Show