COVID-19 is spreading rapidly across Europe. Many people are currently suffering from it and thousands in Europe are dying. We know that these numbers will inevitably rise much further. The European Council recently stressed the importance of European solidarity and cooperation in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Most European countries have ensured that there are no major financial barriers in access to health care, to tests, and to (eventual) subsequent treatment. Ensuring adequate capacity in a crisis such as this, especially for ventilators and intensive care for the most severe cases, is more difficult to solve at short notice and, in some places facing the most severe pressures, there are reports of rationing care. In a situation such as this, international cooperation to enable access to acute-bed capacity is one way to reduce this pressure…

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Lionis Christos
Professor of General Practice & Primary Health Care