British PM's blunt coronavirus warning as Europe declared 'the new China'
The surging outbreak of coronavirus in Europe has reached a critical point as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warns the death toll will only continue to rise.
There has been an exponential growth in cases in recent days in some of Europe’s largest countries, most notably Italy, which has since been sent into an unprecedented lockdown.
US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr Robert Redfield went as far as to label Europe as “the new China” in a meeting with government officials, while Danish officials labelled Europe as the new epicentre.
Italy recorded 189 new deaths on Thursday, with its death toll surpassing 1000.
Germany, Spain and France all now have more than 2000 cases with those numbers expected to soar even higher as the continent records more daily cases than any other.
Ten European countries have more than 500 cases.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said up to 70 per cent of the country’s population could become infected, while French President Emmanuel Macron said the outbreak was the worst health crisis to hit the country in over a century.
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Mr Johnson held a press conference on Thursday (local time), warning the people of Britain, where 10 people have died so far, to expect more deaths.
"It is going to spread further and I must level with you, I must level with the British public, many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time,” he said.
Europe’s response to coronavirus crisis
While the UK has 596 confirmed cases, the government’s medical advisers believe that figure could potentially be 10,000 taking into account unidentified cases.
In response to the outbreak, Mr Macron said France will from next week close all creches, schools and universities.
On Wednesday (local time), Denmark made a similar move as cases rapidly grew.
Slovakia and the Czech Republic banned travellers from a host of countries on Thursday, while Ireland closed all its schools after recording its first death this week.
Austria, Turkey, Belgium and Portugal and Norway have also taken similar measures to shut down schools.
However, Mr Johnson said the UK would not be closing schools as it could “do more harm than good”.
The surge in cases in Europe prompted US President Donald Trump to place a 30-day ban on incoming air passengers from Europe, excluding the UK and Ireland.
The move drew an angry response from EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel who rebuked his "unilateral action" and called for cooperation to fight the pandemic.
But Mr Trump defended the move, saying on Thursday (local time) "we had to move quickly", while conceding the measures would have a "a big impact" on the economy.
Travel and economic chaos for Europe
Markets nosedived on Thursday, with London, Paris and Frankfurt recording their worst day in decades as fears mounted of a global economic slowdown.
The European Central Bank unveiled a host of measures to support the economy, following big-bang interventions by the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.
The stock slump was a "horror show" sparked by the travel ban, which heightened "the likelihood of a global recession”, Connor Campbell, an analyst at Spreadex, said.
The chaos extended to Europe's airports, where confused travellers scrambled to redraw their plans.
"We just got off our plane and we're going to go straight back – we can't believe it," 29-year-old Tiara Streng, queueing with three friends at London's Heathrow Airport for a return flight to Colorado, said.
– with AFP
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