WHO doctor says lockdowns should not be main coronavirus defence | Australian Broadcasting Co. - Michael Doyle:
"Recent commentary from the World Health Organization's (WHO) special envoy on COVID-19 has sparked questions about the legitimacy of lockdowns to stop the spread of coronavirus.... Dr [David] Nabarro made the statements in an interview with The Spectator.
"'The only time we believe a lockdown in justified is to buy you time to reorganise, regroup, rebalance your resources; protect your health workers who are exhausted,' Dr Nabarro said. 'But by and large, we'd rather not do it.' Dr Nabarro told The Spectator the economic impact on small countries that rely on tourism and increased poverty levels are two major effects of shutting communities down. 'We really do appeal to all world leaders, stop using lockdown as your primary method of control," he said. 'Lockdowns have just one consequence that you must never ever belittle, and that is making poor people an awful lot poorer'....
"[T]he message is consistent with a piece written by Dr Nabarro days earlier. Titled, 'Reflections about the Middle Path, he advocates for governments around the world to find a balance between restrictions and normal life. 'Too many restrictions damage people's livelihoods and provoke resentment. "Virus run wild" will lead to lots of deaths as well as debilitating long-COVID among younger people,' he wrote.... 'Lockdowns just freeze the virus … they do not lead to elimination'....
"During a media briefing on April 14, the Director General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, spoke directly to the issue of lockdowns. He said while some countries may have been considering lockdowns, contact tracing was an essential measure all governments needed to have in place. 'We know that early case finding, testing, isolating, caring for every case and tracing every contact is essential for stopping transmission,' he said. As I have said many times, physically distancing restrictions are only part of the equation, and there are many other basic public health measures that need to be put in place'....
"The Director General also spoke about the impracticality of lockdowns in countries with weaker economies, similar to the statements made by Dr Nabarro to The Spectator.
"'In countries with large poor populations, the stay-at-home orders and other restrictions used in some high-income countries may not be practical. Many poor people, migrants and refugees are already living in overcrowded conditions with few resources and little access to healthcare. How do you survive a lockdown when you depend on your daily labour to eat?'"
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