Europe is preparing for its hospitals to be hit by a surge in COVID-19 cases, and authorities are acutely worried about a key resource: trained medical staff.
During the initial wave of the pandemic, clinics scoured basements for spare beds and governments pushed manufacturers to churn out ventilators and face masks. Equipment is now at hand, but a shortage of doctors, nurses and medical technicians is putting health care services to the test, as record infections hit across the region simultaneously.
Europe has re-emerged as a global hot spot for the virus, which has infected more than 5 million people and caused over 200,000 fatalities on the continent.