The impact of coronavirus on the economies of the European Union will depend on the duration and extent of the outbreak, but public health remains a priority for the European Commission, European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said at a press conference in Brussels.
“Of course, there are consequences for the economy, but everything will depend on the duration and scale of this phenomenon,” he said.
The European Commissioner also stressed that the priority for the EC is the health of the population of European countries. “For the European Commission, the main thing is the health of the population, this is the priority that determines our actions,” he said.
The European Commission previously stated that, according to its forecasts, the impact of coronavirus on the global economy will be relatively limited. Brussels also kept its forecasts for growth for the eurozone for 2020-2021 at 1.2%.
On December 31, 2019, the Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization about an outbreak of unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan in the central part of the country (Hubei Province). Experts have identified the causative agent of the disease – this is a new coronavirus. WHO recognized the outbreak as an emergency of international importance and gave the disease its official name – COVID-19.
The number of people infected in mainland China has already exceeded 77 thousand people, 2592 have died, over 24 thousand have been cured. The number of infections outside of China, according to the WHO, reached 1769, 17 people died.