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Keeping borders closed to halt the unfold of COVID-19 is unsustainable, the World Health Organization stated Monday, urging nations to undertake complete methods based mostly on native data of the place the virus is spreading.
Border closures and journey restrictions stay an necessary a part of many nations’ technique to fight the novel coronavirus.
At the identical time, rising instances in a spread of nations in Europe and elsewhere that had loosened measures after showing to get their outbreaks below management have spurred discussions of attainable recent border closures.
But the UN well being physique warned that such measures can’t be stored up indefinitely, and are additionally solely helpful when mixed with a variety of different measures to detect and break chains of transmission.
“Continuing to keep international borders sealed is not necessarily a sustainable strategy for the world’s economy, for the world’s poor, or for anybody else,” Michael Ryan, WHO emergencies director, informed journalists in a digital briefing.
“It is going to be almost impossible for individual countries to keep their borders shut for the foreseeable future,” he stated, stating that “economies have to open up, people have to work, trade has to resume.”
He acknowledged that in terms of COVID-19, it’s unattainable to have a “global one size fits all policy” as a result of outbreaks are creating otherwise in several nations.
While nations with rampant group transmission may have to make use of the blunt instrument of lockdowns to realize management of the state of affairs, others must be burrowing all the way down to get a transparent overview of the place and the way the virus is spreading at an area degree.
– Don’t ‘launch strain’ –
They must be ready to tighten or loosen measures accordingly, he stated, warning towards “releasing pressure” on the virus, which has killed some 650,000 individuals and contaminated 16.three million worldwide.
“Release pressure on the virus and the numbers can creep back up.”
Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, stated that as an alternative of anticipating drastic measures to maintain the virus in examine, individuals have to adapt their behaviours for the lengthy haul.
“What we’re going to have to figure out… is what our new normal looks like?” she informed reporters.
“Our new normal includes physical distancing from others, (and) wearing masks where appropriate,” she stated.
“Our new normal includes us knowing where this virus is each and every day, where we live, where we work, where we want to travel.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
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