European Union's Economic recovery threatened by rising cases of COVID

Amid the resurgence of COVID cases in recent weeks, the European Union has said, the increasing number of daily cases is creating difficulties in the recovery of the economy caused by last year’s onset of the pandemic, the bloc’s economy chief said Wednesday. Meanwhile, researchers and experts have warned that the COVID situation across the country could get much worse. Recently, the EY executive showed its growth forecast for an economy slowly recovering from the worst of the pandemic.

The upward move on the graph may fall amid rising COVID-19 cases and with restrictions being reintroduced in a growing number of member states, said EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni on Wednesday. Gentiloni urged everyone to take the situation seriously and to not expect the economic impact to be the same as it was a year ago. Meanwhile, the experts have warned of crucial situations that could arise affecting various sectors, including the restaurant, bar, and tourism industries, which were already badly hit by the virus last year.

COVID-19 surge in Europe

According to a report released on Wednesday by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, the situation across the country due to the highly contagious delta variant could worsen unless the government implements strict COVID measures and increases vaccination efforts. "The end-of-year festive season is traditionally associated with activities such as social gatherings, shopping, and traveling, which pose significant additional risks for intensified transmission of Delta," warned the ECDC.  In addition to this, the ECDC Director, Andrea Ammon, spoke of health systems already being overwhelmed in some EU nations and other countries being close to it. "We have to take it really seriously now in the sense that measures have to be taken in order to reduce transmission," he said. In the past, a similar situation has caused a total lockdown and wholesale closures of businesses that were responsible for the unprecedented economic decline. While addressing this, Ammon highlighted the need for mandatory mask-wearing and following COVID measures. He said, "We still have some time until Christmas. But if the situation doesn’t get better, it might mean that these measures should be taken over Christmas as well".

Image: AP/Pixabay/Representative Image

With Inputs from AP