Lockdown alone is not enough to extinguish coronavirus, use this time to attack the virus: WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday said that lockdowns, being implemented by several countries to combat coronavirus, alone will not extinguish epidemics. His statement comes after several countries imposed nationwide lockdowns to tackle the spread and impact of COVID-19.

“To stop the spread of COVID-19, many countries have contributed unprecedented measures at a significant social and economic cost,” Tedros said.

“Asking people to stay at home and shutting down population movement is buying time and reducing the pressure on health systems. But on their own, these measures will not extinguish epidemics,” he further said.

“Aggressive measure to find, isolate, test, treat and trace are not only the best and fastest way out of extreme social and economic restrictions, but they are also the best way to prevent them. We call on all countries who have introduced so-called ‘lockdown’ measures to use this time to attack the virus,” the director-general added.

The number of people infected with the novel coronavirus worldwide has exceeded 4,14,179 and over 18,440 have died, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its daily coronavirus disease situation report.