Mere lock downs cannot beat virus, WHO’s Ryan

Mere lock down by countries will not solve the corona issue, WHO’s top emergency expert said on Sunday. He added that public health measures are needed to avoid the reappearance of the virus later on.

“What we really need to focus on is finding those who are sick, those who have the virus, and isolate them, find their contacts and isolate them,” Mike Ryan said in an interview on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.

“The danger right now with the lock downs … if we don’t put in place the strong public health measures now, when those movement restrictions and lock downs are lifted, the danger is the disease will jump back up.”

Most of Europe and United States are now following the drastic restrictions placed by China and other Asian countries to fight the new coronavirus. In Europe too, most workers are told to work from home and schools, bars, pubs and restaurants will remain closed.

The rigorous measures and restrictions laid down by countries like China, Singapore and South Korea to test every possible suspect and thus easily contain the spread of the virus, provided a model for the whole of Europe.

“Once we’ve suppressed the transmission, we have to go after the virus. We have to take the fight to the virus,” Ryan said.

As per records, Italy is the worst-hit country by the virus in the world. Also, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that the health situation in Britain could turn grave if precautionary measures that include avoiding or controlling social interactions is not taken seriously. Also, British housing minister, Robert Jenrick said that the country is planning to double the production of tests which will later be ramped up even more.

Ryan also mentioned that several vaccines are in the stage of development and only one was trialed and tested in the United States.

He also mentioned that people need to be more realistic about the production of the vaccines in the country.

“We have to make sure that it’s absolutely safe… we are talking at least a year,” he said. “The vaccines will come, but we need to get out and do what we need to do now.”