ECDC expert calls for more tests to fight COVID-19 resurgence

A senior expert with the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) called on European countries to offer more and quick tests to deal with the resurgence of COVID-19 cases, Portuguese media reported on Saturday, reported Xinhua.

In an interview with Portuguese Lusa News Agency, Piotr Kramarz, deputy chief scientist of the ECDC, whose mission is to help European countries respond to disease outbreaks, said that Europe is facing the COVID-19 pandemic at two speeds, with some countries already experiencing resurgences of the virus, while others have not even left the first wave.

"What we are seeing is an increase in the number of cases ... These numbers are increasing in many countries, they have been increasing in different periods of time, but definitely (more) in the last few weeks," Kramarz was quoted as saying.

However, the scientist noted that it cannot be identified as the second wave of the novel coronavirus in Europe.

"It is not a clear second wave, but what we see is that there is a resurgence of infections," Kramarz said, referring to the sharp increases in recent weeks in the number of daily cases in countries like Italy, Spain, France and Germany, which were the most affected since the beginning of the pandemic in Europe.

As the novel coronavirus is still unknown to specialists in many aspects, the ECDC scientist warned that with COVID-19, "the situation is a little more complicated," making it difficult to distinguish the different phases of the outbreak.

He pointed out that the increase in the number of cases may not always mean the reappearance of COVID-19, as it may be linked to the increase in tests.