Lockdown measures may have averted 3.1 million deaths from covid-19 across 11 European countries, including 470 000 in the UK, a new modelling study indicates.
However, the researchers warn that European countries are very far from achieving herd immunity, as less than 4% of their populations were infected with SARS-CoV-2 up to 4 May, when lockdowns started to be lifted. The estimated proportion of the total population infected varies between the countries from less than 1% in Norway, Germany, and Austria to 8% in Belgium.
