Cheap food in UK could be spreading COVID-19: WHO

LONDON: the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that cheaply produced food in the UK could be fuelling the spread of COVID-19.

World Health Organisation special envoy David Nabarro commenting on the spread of the virus said that cramped conditions in some plants as well as in employees’ homes, spurred by the UK’s drive for cheaply produced foods could be the reason for the rise in infection rates.

“It may well be that in keeping production costs down, we end up with a situation where the people who work in food processing are under very, very tough working conditions and are paid relatively small amounts of money compared with other roles,” the envoy added.

More than 1,450 cases of coronavirus are linked to food factories across England, Scotland, and Wales.  Moreover, the World Health Organisation had hoped the coronavirus crisis can be over in less than two years faster than it took for the 1918 Spanish flu.

“In our situation now with more technology, and of course with more connectedness, the virus has a better chance of spreading, it can move fast because we are more connected now,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.