GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of a surge in cases if affected countries do not manage lockdown restrictions carefully.
Director-General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a briefing from Geneva, listed a series of steps needed before countries lift measures designed to control the spread of the COVID-19 respiratory disease, such as surveillance controls and health systems preparedness.
“The risk of returning to lockdown remains very real if countries do not manage the transition extremely carefully and in a phased approach,” he said.
Tedros stressed the need for investment in health systems now to save lives later. “The COVID-19 pandemic will eventually recede but there can be no going back to business as usual,” he said.
He also urged countries to address inequalities that he said were fuelling the pandemic. Moreover, WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said that if lockdown measures are lifted too quickly, the virus can take off.
More than 3.7 million people have been infected with the coronavirus, which first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December of last year. Over 260,000 people have died globally from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Around half of the world’s population is under some form of lockdown measures imposed in an unprecedented global bid to contain the spread of the virus.
Several hard-hit countries, including the United States, Italy, and Spain, have recently pivoted towards reopening their economies.
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