WHO warned world leaders to stop using lockdowns as a ‘primary control method’ for the pandemic
Nickie Louise
Posted On October 31, 2020
Earlier today, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a national lockdown until December 2 as coronavirus cases top 1 million in Great Britain. “From Thursday until the start of December you must stay at home, you may only leave home for specific reasons. Now is the time to take action, because there is no alternative,” Johnson said in a televised address to the nation.
Johnson’s announcement came just after the World Health Organization (WHO) warning back in the middle of this month. Dr. David Nabarro, WHO’s special envoy on COVID-19, appealed to world leaders not to use lockdowns as a method to curb the spread of COVID-19 in their countries. Great Britain is now doing the exact opposite. And none of the European leaders seems to heed WHO’s advice.
“Unless we act, we could see deaths in this country running at several thousand a day,” said Johnson, who was hospitalized earlier this year for a serious case of COVID-19. Bars and restaurants will be closed, and travel between regions banned. Schools will stay open, but universities will move online.
Johnson is not alone. In France, President Emmanuel Macron ordered a new lockdown until December. People are not to leave their homes except to buy essential goods, seek medical care, and exercise for an hour a day.
Dr. Nabarro said the lockdowns are a bad idea and called on world leaders to not use lockdowns as their ‘primary control method’ for the pandemic. Dr. Nabarro warned seven months too late that the ubiquitous global response to the coronavirus pandemic might be a bit of an oopsie-daisy.”
Dr. Nabarro warned that “lockdowns just have one consequence that you must never ever belittle, and that is making poor people an awful lot poorer.”
WATCH: Dr David Nabarro, the WHO's Special Envoy on Covid-19, tells Andrew Neil: 'We really do appeal to all world leaders: stop using lockdown as your primary control method'. Watch the full interview here: https://t.co/XLdaedsKVS #SpectatorTV @afneil | @davidnabarro pic.twitter.com/1M4xf3VnXQ
— The Spectator (@spectator) October 9, 2020
