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Country can avoid brutal lockdown if it finds a middle way, says UK's man at the WHO

People queue to enter a testing centre in East London - Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP
People queue to enter a testing centre in East London - Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP
Coronavirus Article Bar with counter ..
Coronavirus Article Bar with counter ..

The UK must not be held prisoner by the coronavirus but nor can it let it run wild through the population, a World Health Organization expert has said.

As prime minister Boris Johnson is poised to impose new restrictions to stop Covid-19 spiralling out of control, Dr David Nabarro, the WHO’s special envoy on the disease, said the government had to steer a middle course.

Some experts argue that the virus should be left to run through populations in a bid to build up herd immunity. However, countries such as Germany and South Korea have managed to control numbers by imposing some restrictions but also setting up effective test and trace systems and jumping on outbreaks when they occur.

This is an approach the UK must follow, said Dr Nabarro, an international health expert who was the government’s nominee for the leadership of the WHO in 2017.

“This is a dangerous, nasty, cunning and deceptive virus. We just don’t know enough about it to say this is mild,” he said.

“We cannot just let it do its mischief but humanity cannot be held prisoner by it,” he said. Dr Nabarro, who led the United Nations response to the 2014 to 15 West African Ebola epidemic, added that the long-term complications of Covid-19 were still little understood.

David Nabarro: "We cannot let the virus do its mischief" - Pacific Press
David Nabarro: "We cannot let the virus do its mischief" - Pacific Press

He said about one in 20 people get so-called “long Covid” and are still suffering symptoms such as breathlessness and what is often described as “brain fog” months after recovering from the acute phase of the disease.

And Dr Nabarro added that experts were also still unsure what the long-term effects of the disease would be on children.

“We must find a way in which we can live with the virus as a constant threat without it wrecking our lives,” he said.

On Monday the chief medical officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty, and the chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, warned that the current exponential growth in the number of cases meant the UK could see 50,000 a day by October if nothing more was done to control the virus.

Dr Nabarro said governments had to do “everything possible” to avoid “brutal” lockdowns because of the impact on the most vulnerable in society.

“It's the ultimate option, but it's something you shouldn't do because it doesn't actually get rid of the virus it just freezes it. So I say do everything possible to avoid lockdown,” he said.

He called for a “contract” between citizens and government. Citizens’ part of the contract included social distancing, washing hands, wearing face masks and staying at home when they’re sick.

And governments must play their part by ensuring they know where the virus is, tracking and tracing contacts, ensuring people self isolate and making sure that those who do are adequately compensated.

“If we can get on top of the virus through local action to deal with spikes and deal with surges we can win. That’s going to be the future - picking up these outbreaks and dealing with them,” he said.

He did not to comment on the UK government’s performance but said: “The governments that are doing best are the ones that have managed to strike up a reasonable contract with their people, people accept their part of the bargain, and the government does their bit.”

Dr Nabarro added: “In Germany the government has invested in identifying people with disease, testing them, and then tracing their contracts. The Germans will never say we've cracked it, but they'll say we're hopeful.”

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