Lockdowns alone cannot end Covid-19: WHO chief

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday urged for “sustained efforts” from countries across the globe to combat the Covid-19 pandemic emphasizing that lockdowns alone will not solve the crisis.

Ending the epidemic will require a sustained effort on the part of individuals, communities and governments to continue suppressing and controlling this deadly virus. So-called lockdowns can help to take the heat out of a country’s epidemic, but they cannot end it alone. Countries must now ensure they can detect, test, isolate and care for every case, and trace every contact,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Ghebreyesus also acknowledged the “accelerated development and validation” of Covid-19 tests to coronavirus antibodies which can help in better understanding the extent of the infection in the global population.

The WHO chief has, however, also emphasized the importance of restrictions on multiple occasions.

Earlier this month, he had urged countries to carefully remove imposed restrictions as lifting lockdowns too quickly could lead to a “deadly resurgence of the virus.”

“We know that in some countries, cases are doubling every 3 to 4 days. However, while Covid-19 accelerates very fast, it decelerates much more slowly. In other words, the way down is much slower than the way up. That means control measures must be lifted slowly, and with control. It cannot happen all at once,” Ghebreyesus had said.

The WHO is also working with countries across the globe on developing ways to cure Covid-19 under its Solidarity Response Trial. The UN organization had recently organized an event with Global Citizen featuring Hugh Evans and Lady Gaga for raising funds for the trial. The event had raised over $127 million, including $55 million for WHO’s Solidarity Response Fund. The fund has now raised over $194 million.

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