Restrictions necessary for Europe: China Daily editorial

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been the debate over what is the best approach to contain the novel coronavirus.

At the core of this has been mobility restrictions, specifically the degree to which they should be imposed. Countries have differed on what is acceptable to best serve prevention and control efforts at the lowest cost. Divergent answers and approaches have resulted in different degrees of success in containing the novel coronavirus all over the world.

As the anticipated second wave of infections drives conspicuous upsurges in infections and deaths across Europe, turning the continent into a new global epicenter, European governments remain divided on the issue.

Europe has exceeded the 10-million-case milestone. Even the well-equipped health systems of France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland have reportedly been stretched to their limits.

France and Germany have responded with controls nearly as strict as the lockdowns during the spring months. Greece, too, has decided to order regional lockdowns following a spike of new infections.

In the United Kingdom, having previously resisted calls to do so, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a new month-long lockdown for England on Saturday after being warned that without tough action England's hospitals would be overwhelmed in weeks.

Given the damage the pandemic and subsequent restrictions have already done to everyday life in England and the national economy, ordering a second rigid lockdown proved a very tough call for the government, particularly amid prevailing "pandemic fatigue". But with nearly 100,000 people infected in England each day, and the number of cases doubling every nine days, the government had no other choice.

Johnson said the government had to make "incredibly difficult" judgments during the pandemic to balance lives and livelihoods, "and obviously lives must come first".

Despite this, the dramatic measures that brought China to where it enviably stands now — ultra strict restrictions, exhaustive tracing, mass testing — are clearly a non-option in the UK and elsewhere.

Given this, European countries should learn from each other's successes and failures during the first wave of the pandemic to help them deal with the second wave. Belated as they were, lockdowns as well as restrictions on mobility and crowd sizes contributed greatly to bringing the spread of the virus under control during the first wave.

Yet weak coordination between and among European countries, especially when it comes to cross-border travel, has revealed a gaping hole in the continent's collective self-defense in the face of the onslaught.

While the economic woes are severe, as China has shown, a little more resolve and coordination and subsequent patience would likely prove rewarding in curtailing the virus' spread and allowing countries to get back on their feet again.