Experts fearful about Euro 2020 impact on COVID-19 contagion

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 13 - Sergio Abrignani, an immunologist who is a member of the CTS expert panel advising the government on its policy to combat the coronavirus, said Tuesday that we will see in less than a week if the celebrations for Italy's Euro 2020 triumph have led to a feared upswing in COVID-19 contagion.
    "If we observe peaks of contagion in four or five days' time in cities where there was risky behaviour, then we will see if we risked too much with the celebrations," Abrignani told RAI television.
    "Let's hope that the same thing happens as with the celebrations in Naples for Napoli's Italian Cup win and in Milan when Inter won the Serie A title - there were similar gatherings of people but a peak in cases was not observed.
    "At that time we did not have the Delta variant, but the Alpha variant.
    "It is true that this is less contagious but what we feared did not happen.
    "Let's hope it is the same again, but we are afraid".
    Infectious disease epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove, the Covid-19 technical lead at the World Health Organization (WHO), has tweeted about the "devastating" transmission that occurred at the Euro 2020 final on Sunday night between England and Italy at Wembley.
    "Am I supposed to be enjoying watching transmission happening in front of my eyes", she tweeted after 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", Van Kerkhove wrote on Twitter (ANSA).