London can avoid second lockdown if people cut social contact, WHO expert warns
Londoners can avoid a full-scale second Covid-19 wave without a lockdown if they change their behaviour to reduce social contacts, a world health chief said today.
Dr David Nabarro, a World Health Organisationcoronavirus envoy for Europe, warned the capital could not escape the growing epidemic in Britain
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However, he stressed the city could limit its impact if people follow social distancing and good hygiene laws and guidance.
“You can’t stop it but we can reduce the intensity through the way in which we all behave,” he told The Evening Standard.
“The virus is going to resurge in most of Europe but the intensity of the surge will very much depend on whether or not people are able to make these shifts in behaviour.
“We have seen from the lockdown that you can slow the spread of the virus through the way in which you reduce chances of people bumping into each other, it’s simply that, we have to reduce the frequency of contact between people."
He added: “That is possible without having to have lockdown.
“That is our contention and what we are really trying to encourage everybody in Europe to do, to set it as a goal, to avoid more lockdowns by behaviour changes and it can be done.
“We have seen in other parts of the world that it’s not an impossible task.”
Latest figures for confirmed Covid cases show a rise in every borough in the capital, with 14 including Redbridge, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hillingdon, Ealing and Enfield seeing more than 100 in the week to September 24.
Redbridge had the highest rate of new cases per 100,000, at 68.1, followed by Barking and Dagenham at 57.8.
A rate of 50 is seen as one indicator for an area to require stricter restrictions.
However, Covid levels in the capital are still far below the worst hotspots in the North of England.
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