WHO Warning To World Leaders: Kuncitara Is The Last Way To Overcome COVID-19

Illustration (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - The World Health Organization has warned the world's leaders not to rely on lockdowns or keys to deal with COVID-19. This was conveyed after WHO often said countries had to be careful when re-opening the economy.

The WHO envoy for COVID-19, David Nabarro, in his interview with The Spectator, revealed that the key can be implemented but only as a final step. "We at the World Health Organization do not recommend lockdowns as the main way to control this virus," said Nabarro.

"The only time we are sure that a lockdown is justified is to give you time to reset, rebuild, rebalance your resources, protect your exhausted healthcare workers. But in general, we'd rather not," said Nabarro.

In the interview, Nabarro also said that there were significant losses caused by the strict lockdown. This loss is especially true for the global economy.

In addition, Nabarro also explained the countries that have a big impact on the key policy. Most of these countries are the ones that rely heavily on tourism in their economies.

"Just look at what happens to the tourism industry in the Caribbean, for example, or in the Pacific because people are not on vacation," said Nabarro. “Look what's happening to small farmers around the world. Look what happened to the poverty level.

According to Nabarro, the world's poverty rate will probably double next year. "We may have at least double the amount of child malnutrition," he said.

Gradually

Previously, the WHO had warned that if there was a surge, the locks had to be reinstated if countries that lifted restrictions did not manage the transition very carefully. Removal of the keys should be done gradually. If the restrictions are loosened too quickly, the infection will reappear.

Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said a series of steps the country needed to take before lifting key steps to control the spread of COVID-19, such as surveillance controls and health system readiness.

In May, about half of the world's population was under some form of the key measures put in place in a global effort to contain the spread of COVID-19. By then the hardest hit countries, including the United States, Italy and Spain, were just turning to an economic reopening.

Quoted from the BBC , in the last week some 6,000 experts, mostly from the UK, said that the social restriction policy had a negative impact on physical and mental health and society. They called for protection to be focused on vulnerable communities, while healthy people move on with their lives.