WHO chief praises northern England lockdown as global Covid-19 cases edge towards 20 million
Reimposing coronavirus restrictions in areas of northern England demonstrates a "strong and precise" approach to suppressing flare-ups, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Speaking at a virtual press conference in Geneva, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, praised several governments including the UK, France, South Korea and Germany for "using all the tools at their disposal to tackle any new spikes".
"Over the last few days, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson put areas of northern England under stay at home notifications as clusters of cases were identified,” Dr Tedros said. "In France, President Macron introduced compulsory masking in busy outdoor spaces of Paris in response to an increase in cases.
"Strong and precise measures like these, in combination with utilising every tool at our disposal, are key to preventing any resurgence in disease and allowing societies to be reopened safely."
During the same briefing, Dr Mike Ryan, head of the WHO emergencies programme, said there was "always a likelihood" that flare-ups would occur once countries suppressed initial epidemics and lifted control measures.
Asked whether Europe was seeing a second wave of infections, Dr Ryan said western Europe was seeing localised upticks, having controlled early outbreaks, but warned that there are "still significant problems in parts of central and southern Europe" (see graphic below).
He added that, when talking about a second wave, it was vital to remain clear that Covid-19 has so far shown no signs of being a seasonal disease. Instead, the "reality is that when you take the pressure of this virus, the virus will bounce back".
"That requires a sophisticated response," he added, suggesting that Europe needed to focus on "how fast and speedy and effective is the response to those inevitable flare-ups?"
Repeating the message that the WHO has focused on for months, he urged governments to invest in strong contact tracing systems to identify clusters, contain them and "avoid, if possible, having a country-wide lockdown that caused so much economic devastation".
But this comes as the pandemic worldwide continues to accelerate. The official global death toll is set to hit 750,000 this week, while confirmed cases are expected to surpass 20 million. In Brazil, where the grim milestone of 100,000 fatalities was hit at the weekend, the WHO said there are between 50,000 and 60,000 new cases every day.
"Behind these statistics is a great deal of pain and suffering," Dr Tedros said. "But I want to be clear – there are green shoots of hope and, no matter where a country, a region, a city or a town is, it's never too late to turn the outbreak around."
He added, however, that the ACT Accelerator has received just 10 per cent of the funding it needs. This initiative is a global collaboration led by the WHO to share both the costs and risks of developing vaccine and treatment candidates, as well as ensure that all countries have access to the medical tools.
So far, just over $3.4 billion of the $31.3 billion required to invest in these tools has been committed.
"This sounds like a lot of money, and it is," said Dr Tedros. "But it's small in comparison to the 10 trillion dollars that have already been invested by G20 countries in fiscal stimulus to deal with the consequences of the pandemic so far.
"It [ACT Accelerator] is the only end-to-end, global solution that combines public and private sector expertise in research and development, manufacturing, procurement and delivery for the tools needed to address the pandemic’s cause."
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