WHO says countries need to use lockdown time to ‘attack coronavirus’
WHO says countries need to use lockdown time to ‘attack coronavirus’
25/03/2020
A woman plays with her daughter as they wait at Barcelona airport, Spain, Saturday, March 14, 2020. Spain's prime minister has announced a two-week state of emergency from Saturday in a bid to contain the new coronavirus outbreak. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Countries which have locked down their populations to prevent the spread of the coronavirus need to use the time to find and attack the virus, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.
“Asking people to stay at home and shutting down population movement is buying time, and reducing pressure on health systems. On their own these measures won’t extinguish epidemics,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“We call on all countries to use this time to attack the virus,” Tedros told a press conference.
Countries need to expand, train and deploy their health care and public health workforces, as well as implementing systems to find every suspected case, and ramping up testing, he said.
