Some countries with rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreaks might have to reinstate lockdowns and other restrictions to curb the spread of the virus, a top World Health Organization official said Wednesday.
Countries like Spain and Italy successfully drove back severe outbreaks with a comprehensive public health strategy that mobilized the public, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. However, some countries have struggled to contain the virus and many still don't have the best systems in place to prevent another outbreak, said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO's emerging diseases and zoonosis unit.
"Some countries who have had success in suppressing transmission who are opening up now may have a setback, may have to implement interventions again, may have to implement these so-called lockdowns again," she said at a news briefing from the agency's headquarters in Geneva. "We hope not. We hope that we won't have to go into widespread lockdown again. So it's not too late to act fast."
Some of the countries that have responded most effectively to the pandemic have been countries with recent experience handling outbreaks such as SARS in 2003 and MERS in 2013.
"They had first-hand experience of how dangerous a pathogen like this could be," she said. While she did not specifically mention any specific countries, SARS emerged in China and hit parts of Asia, including Hong Kong and Singapore. MERS mostly hit South Korea.
Comment: Note how the narrative has shifted from deaths to cases. No mention of deaths in the above. That's because even though more cases are being reported (largely due to more testing), deaths are trending
downward. E.g., here's the data for the States (and keep in mind this is "official" data):
But that isn't stopping some states and cities from reimposing lockdown. Arizona's governor is
banning gatherings of 50+ people, closing bars, clubs and gyms for 30 days.
Leicester, UK, is going back into lockdown:
"It's depressing," Stuart Towers, landlord of the Market Tavern pub told Reuters. "We were all looking forward to opening Saturday and the next thing you know that's it. What do we do now?"
The city's lockdown will affect almost 4,000 retailers, 239 restaurants, 182 pubs, 26 hotels and five cinemas, according to real estate adviser Altus Group. Many businesses would have been preparing to open on Saturday for the first time since March.
And Leicester
isn't the only UK city.
Comment: The Times has wiggled all over this story making claims and insinuations, a standard tactic when it comes to 'anything Trump'. National security advisor Robert O'Brien provided some clarification: See also: