FILE PHOTO: People, wearing protective face masks, walk past a dental clinic advertisement at Vallecas neighbourhood in Madrid, Spain, Sep 18, 2020. LONDON: A surge in COVID-19 cases in Europe risks becoming a deadly double epidemic of flu and coronavirus infections, EU health officials warned on Thursday as they urged Europeans and their governments not to let their guard down.
"It is abundantly clear that this crisis is not behind us. We are at a decisive moment," the EU's commissioner for health, Stella Kyriakides, told a media briefing.With winter approaching in the region, she warned of the risk of a potentially lethal"twindemic of COVID-19 and the flu" and urged governments to encourage people to get seasonal flu vaccines and adhere to social distancing measures to reduce transmission of the novel coronavirus.
Adults at high risk from flu are also most at risk from COVID-19. Research by scientists at Public Health England released this week suggested the risk of death more than doubled for people who tested positive for both flu and COVID-19, compared to those with COVID-19 alone.
"This can partly be explained by improved testing strategies," Ammon said."However, several countries appear to be now progressing again from limited local transmission towards sustained community transmission.