Lack of COVID-19 awareness at Euro final 'devastating': WHO

By CNA - July 12, 2021

Euro Final

GENEVA: A World Health Organization (WHO) epidemiologist said she had been devastated to watch unmasked crowds singing and shouting at the Euro 2020 football final in London on Sunday (Jul 11), expressing concerns that it would spur COVID-19 transmission, including of the Delta variant.

Britain is facing a new wave of COVID-19 driven by the more transmissible variant despite having one of the world's highest vaccination rates. It plans to scrap most remaining anti-coronavirus restrictions on Jul 19, in a move that worries some scientists.

In unusually forthright comments from the United Nations health agency, which usually refrains from remarking on the policies of individual member states, its COVID-19 technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove called the sight of the more than 60,000 spectators at the match between Italy and England "devastating".

"Am I supposed to be enjoying watching transmission happening in front of my eyes?" she tweeted in the late stages of the match.

"The #COVID19 pandemic is not taking a break tonight ... #SARSCoV2 #DeltaVariant will take advantage of unvaccinated people, in crowded settings, unmasked, screaming/shouting/singing. Devastating."

A day of alcohol-fuelled festivities had begun with rowdy scenes in central London and tens of thousands made their way to the national stadium for the game, with flares being let off in railway stations and singing on trains.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson this month defended the decision to allow more than 60,000 people to attend the final, saying it was being hosted in a "careful and controlled manner with testing of everybody who goes there". He said vaccines have created a "considerable wall of immunity".