EU Commissioner Mariya Gabriel tests positive for novel coronavirus

European Union Commissioner Mariya Gabriel has tested positive for the novel coronavirus on October 10. Taking to Twitter Gabriel said that after a negative test, she has tested positive in her second test. She wrote, “Keep yourself healthy and stay safe!”. With this, Gabriel has become the first top official of Brussels to test positive for the novel coronavirus.  

According to reports by AP, EU president Ursula von der Leyen and Gabriel placed themselves in isolation after being in contact with people infected with the coronavirus. Von der Leyen was on a two-day trip to Portugal where she attended a meeting which was attended by a person who had tested positive. She took to Twitter and said that she attended a meeting last Tuesday that was attended by “a person who yesterday tested positive”. Gabriel also made a Tweet saying, “Pending test results, myself and my whole team are self-isolating in line with public health protocols and working from home. I feel well and have no symptoms”. 

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Europe experiences a second wave

Europe has been hit by the second wave of coronavirus as intensive care wards are filling up again and bars have shut down. As per the reports by PTI, authorities said it is a widespread cause of “COVID-fatigue”. Spain this week declared a state of emergency for Madrid. Italy has mandated masks outdoors and warned that the health system was facing “significant critical issues” as hospitals fill up. The Czech Republic has the highest per capita infection rate on the continent, at 398 per 100,000 residents. The Czech interior minister, Jan Hamacek said, “I have to say clearly that the situation is not good”. 

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On October 10, after reporting 98,000 cases in 24 hours, Dr Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said, while part of that is due to increased testing, “It's also worrisome in terms of virus resurgence”. He added, “They should have been using the time to put in place really robust 'find, test, trace, isolate' support systems. Not everybody did. Had they done that, then they could have identified outbreaks as they were emerging and really gone for the sources?”.

Read: Lesson Not Learned: Europe Unprepared As 2nd Virus Wave Hits

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(Image Credits: Twitter/@GabrielMariya)