WHO warns about dangers of premature lifting of COVID-19 restrictions

[rooster59]

WHO warns about dangers of premature lifting of COVID-19 restrictions

By Stephanie Nebehay and John Revill

 

FILE PHOTO: A logo is pictured outside a building of the World Health Organization (WHO) during an executive board meeting on update on the coronavirus outbreak, in Geneva, Switzerland, February 6, 2020. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

 

GENEVA/ZURICH (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) warned countries on Friday to be cautious about lifting restrictions introduced to curb the spread of the new coronavirus and voiced alarm it was taking hold in Africa.

 

The United Nations agency would like to see an easing, but at the same time "lifting restrictions could lead to a deadly resurgence," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference.

 

He said there had been a "welcome slowing" of epidemics in some European countries - Italy, Germany, Spain and France - but there had been an "alarming acceleration" elsewhere including community transmission in 16 countries of Africa.

 

Nearly 1.5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 92,000 deaths have been reported to the Geneva-based agency, Tedros said.

 

Yemen reported its first case of the novel coronavirus on Friday as aid groups braced for an outbreak in a country where war has shattered health systems and spread hunger and disease.

 

Tedros said he was particularly concerned by the large number of infections reported among health workers.

 

"In some countries reports of up to 10 percent of health workers being infected, this is an alarming trend," he said.

 

A new U.N. supply task force will coordinate and scale up the procurement and distribution of protective gear, lab diagnostics and oxygen to the countries that need it most.

 

"Every month we will need to ship at least 100 million medical masks and gloves, up to 25 million N-95 respirators, gowns and face shields, up to 2.5 million diagnostic tests and large quantities of oxygen concentrators and other equipment for clinical care," he said.

 

The World Food Programme - the U.N. agency that handles logistics - will deploy eight 747 aircraft, 8 medium-sized cargo aircraft and several smaller passenger planes to transport the goods and aid workers needed in the operation which will have 8 hubs, he added.

 

Tedros urged donors to contribute to WFP's operation which will cost an estimated $280 million, while the cost of procuring supplies will be "much greater".

 

Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme said the world owed a tremendous debt to front-line health workers, and it was vital they got the right protective gear.

 

Tedros said no country was immune from the pandemic, which was spreading panic around the world. Cases have recently been found in some parts of Japan with no known links to other outbreaks.

 

"From this pandemic we have to try to learn…what the gaps are, this is a message even for the developed countries. Across the board you see a lack of preparedness of the public health system," Tedros said.

 

"No country is immune. No country can claim it has a strong health system. We have to be really honest and assess and address this problem."

 

(Reporting by John Revill and Stephanie Nebehey)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-11

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[timendres]

9 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Tedros said no country was immune from the pandemic, which was spreading panic around the world. Cases have recently been found in some parts of Japan with no known links to other outbreaks.

I care little about what this man says, and less about what the WHO suggests. The panic needs to end.

[Tug]

12 minutes ago, timendres said:

I care little about what this man says, and less about what the WHO suggests. The panic needs to end.

I beg to differ my concern is if they are lifted early due(understandably I might add)to economic concerns we will squander any gains we may have made and be in worse shape than now the flue pandemic of 1918/19 was worse on the 2ond wave let’s not repeat it

[timendres]

2 minutes ago, Tug said:

I beg to differ my concern is if they are lifted early due(understandably I might add)to economic concerns we will squander any gains we may have made and be in worse shape than now the flue pandemic of 1918/19 was worse on the 2ond wave let’s not repeat it

No one would suggest going back to "normal", of course. I just think there is too much panic. People are acting as if this is the Zombie Apocalypse, which it is not. I believe some reasonable easing of restrictions, with close monitoring, should be considered, as opposed to continued crushing of the world and it's economies.

[Tug]

1 minute ago, timendres said:

No one would suggest going back to "normal", of course. I just think there is too much panic. People are acting as if this is the Zombie Apocalypse, which it is not. I believe some reasonable easing of restrictions, with close monitoring, should be considered, as opposed to continued crushing of the world and it's economies.

I personally haven’t seen any panic but then we are prepared take care all good luck and health!

[cornishcarlos]

The organisation that said travel restrictions weren't necessary back in February ?? 

The organisation that said mask were only effective for people with symptoms ??

Now they want to recommend countries let China get even further ahead in the normalisation game !! 

 

Are they for real ??

 

[Crazy Alex]

WHO said in mid-January the virus can't be spread by humans. They want people to take them seriously?

[ezzra]

So now after the barn doors were left open and the corona virus has bolted, the WHO fat bureaucrats got smarter now and issue this warnings, how responsible of them... 

[FarFlungFalang]

58 minutes ago, Tug said:

I beg to differ my concern is if they are lifted early due(understandably I might add)to economic concerns we will squander any gains we may have made and be in worse shape than now the flue pandemic of 1918/19 was worse on the 2ond wave let’s not repeat it

So are you suggesting the current measures should be continued for three years which is how long the Spanish Flu lasted?The goal of the measure was to flatten the curve well the curve has been flattened so it's time to get rid of the measures not to start moving the goal posts.

[Conno]

Let me get this straight. So the World continues to listen to an organisation led by a man who covered up on three separate occasion cholera outbreaks when he was health minister in his own country. Just another self serving psychopath, add him to the list of all the others that people look to for salvation. 

 

 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/health/candidate-who-director-general-ethiopia-cholera-outbreaks.html

 

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/fully-complicit-terrible-suffering-tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus-blamed-2017-cholera

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/05/18/ethiopias-candidate-for-the-world-health-organization-doesnt-like-mentioning-a-certain-disease/

[Tug]

36 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

So are you suggesting the current measures should be continued for three years which is how long the Spanish Flu lasted?The goal of the measure was to flatten the curve well the curve has been flattened so it's time to get rid of the measures not to start moving the goal posts.

Oh gosh no we have advanced a lot in the last 101 years I would personally follow the recommendations of the experts they know the science and facts that beeing said we all know and understand the crushing pressure to get the economy going again

[FarFlungFalang]

18 minutes ago, Tug said:

Oh gosh no we have advanced a lot in the last 101 years I would personally follow the recommendations of the experts they know the science and facts that beeing said we all know and understand the crushing pressure to get the economy going again

You seem to place a lot of trust in people who call themselves "experts".Personally I find there there are to many experts with such wildly varying opinions about what should be done that I just do the best I can and trust my own instincts.These experts you trust have destroyed the global economy to fight a flu outbreak.

[Crazy Alex]

1 hour ago, Tug said:

Oh gosh no we have advanced a lot in the last 101 years I would personally follow the recommendations of the experts they know the science and facts that beeing said we all know and understand the crushing pressure to get the economy going again

Which experts' recommendations would you follow?

[rabas]

56 minutes ago, Tug said:

Oh gosh no we have advanced a lot in the last 101 years I would personally follow the recommendations of the experts they know the science and facts that beeing said we all know and understand the crushing pressure to get the economy going again

The mistake you make is assuming that the experts are intent on helping you.  They are helping some one else with money and power whose interests may conflict with yours.  In this case we know exactly WHO is helping who.

[mauGR1]

13 minutes ago, rabas said:

The mistake you make is assuming that the experts are intent on helping you.  They are helping some one else with money and power whose interests may conflict with yours.  In this case we know exactly WHO is helping who.

Surely there are chances for big changes to happen, and we know who is going to benefit from who.

[Chomper Higgot]

6 minutes ago, Crazy Alex said:

I suspect all that matters with certain people is that the *experts* operate on the premise of despising Trump.

Do you have evidence to back up this scurrilous claim, or are you simply looking for a reason, any reason, to insert your off topic claims?

[Chomper Higgot]

22 minutes ago, Crazy Alex said:

Which experts' recommendations would you follow?

The ones South Korea listened to seem to be on the money.

 

 

[Bkk Brian]

1 hour ago, Conno said:

Let me get this straight. So the World continues to listen to an organisation led by a man who covered up on three separate occasion cholera outbreaks when he was health minister in his own country. Just another self serving psychopath, add him to the list of all the others that people look to for salvation. 

 

 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/health/candidate-who-director-general-ethiopia-cholera-outbreaks.html

 

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/fully-complicit-terrible-suffering-tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus-blamed-2017-cholera

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/05/18/ethiopias-candidate-for-the-world-health-organization-doesnt-like-mentioning-a-certain-disease/

He's also the complete dick that appointed Robert Mugabe as its Goodwill Ambassador!

 

"Mr Mugabe's appointment as a "goodwill ambassador" to help tackle non-communicable diseases has attracted a chorus of criticism."

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-41702662

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/22/robert-mugabe-removed-as-who-goodwill-ambassador-after-outcry

[rumak]

Premature lifting has probably saved me from many an unwanted event....

[Eric Loh]

8 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

The organisation that said travel restrictions weren't necessary back in February ?? 

The organisation that said mask were only effective for people with symptoms ??

Now they want to recommend countries let China get even further ahead in the normalisation game !! 

 

Are they for real ??

 

You need to read the complete WHO’s recommendation for international travel that they issued periodically as new intelligence and studies collected. 
 

You can perhaps start to appreciate the reasons as to why the WHO didn’t recommend travel restriction at the early stage of the outbreak. 

 

Below an extract:-

In general, evidence shows that restricting the movement of people and goods during public health emergencies is ineffective in most situations and may divert resources from other interventions. Furthermore, restrictions may interrupt needed aid and technical support, may disrupt businesses, and may have negative social and economic effects on the affected countries. However, in certain circumstances, measures that restrict the movement of people may prove temporarily useful, such as in settings with few international connections and limited response capacities.

 

 

https://www.who.int/news-room/articles-detail/updated-who-recommendations-for-international-traffic-in-relation-to-covid-19-outbreak

Edited April 11, 2020 by metisdead
Edited as per fair use policy.

[johng]

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

(WHO) warned countries on Friday to be cautious about lifting restrictions

The other  WHO  said  "we won't get fooled again" !!!

[rumak]

Just now, johng said:

The other  WHO  said  "we won't get fooled again" !!!

Also...."hope i die before i get old" .     oops, maybe they changed their mind on that one  LOL

[mauGR1]

11 minutes ago, rumak said:

Premature lifting has probably saved me from many an unwanted event....

That sounds Dylanesque,  lifting, uhm, cryptic ????

[rabas]

24 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

You need to read the complete WHO’s recommendation for international travel that they issued periodically as new intelligence and studies collected. 
 

You can perhaps start to appreciate the reasons as to why the WHO didn’t recommend travel restriction at the early stage of the outbreak. 

 

Below an extract:-   [CLIP]

 

https://www.who.int/news-room/articles-detail/updated-who-recommendations-for-international-traffic-in-relation-to-covid-19-outbreak

Exactly what Xi would like the WHO to say. "Yo, West. Don't bother trying to stop the spread or restrict travel that might hurt my economy."

 

Now  the facts: Even with the heavy hand restrictions, nCoV-2019 is already the number one cause of death in the US and growing fast. If they had not implemented restrictions it could be 100X that rate and would destroy the West. WHO twiddling thumbs staring at the sky as the West burns.

 

Edited April 11, 2020 by rabas

[Chomper Higgot]

14 minutes ago, rabas said:

Exactly what Xi would like the WHO to say. "Yo, West. Don't bother trying to stop the spread or restrict travel that might hurt my economy."

 

Now  the facts: Even with the heavy hand restrictions, nCoV-2019 is already the number one cause of death in the US and growing fast. If they had not implemented restrictions it could be 100X that rate and would destroy the West. WHO twiddling thumbs staring at the sky as the West burns.

 

What you believe Xi would like the WHO to say has no bearing on the utter failure of the US to implement a coordinated Federal response to this disease.

 

Ot is the failure of the US President and his administration that allowed the virus take a hold in the US.

 

Those failures continue, hence all the finger pointing and blaming others.

[Snow Leopard]

The WHO is partially to blame for this mess in the first place. Along with their puppet masters the CCP. 

[Rimmer]

Some off topic posts dragging Mr Trump into the topic have been removed, also replies

[pmarlin]

W.H.O. is extremely political and that alone makes them worthless.

[Bluespunk]

6 hours ago, rooster59 said:

A new U.N. supply task force will coordinate and scale up the procurement and distribution of protective gear, lab diagnostics and oxygen to the countries that need it most.

 

"Every month we will need to ship at least 100 million medical masks and gloves, up to 25 million N-95 respirators, gowns and face shields, up to 2.5 million diagnostic tests and large quantities of oxygen concentrators and other equipment for clinical care," he said.

 

The World Food Programme - the U.N. agency that handles logistics - will deploy eight 747 aircraft, 8 medium-sized cargo aircraft and several smaller passenger planes to transport the goods and aid workers needed in the operation which will have 8 hubs, he added.

Bravo. 

[Eric Loh]

37 minutes ago, pmarlin said:

W.H.O. is extremely political and that alone makes them worthless.

Ya, those 34 members of various countries in W.H.O. including US are very political, lol