MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th October, 2020) Avoiding repeated nationwide lockdowns is possible, but conditional on a concerted effort by governments and citizens to abide by proven prevention techniques, Maria van Kerkhove, the COVID-19 technical lead at the World Health Organization (WHO), said on Monday.
"We need everyone to contribute. We can avoid national lockdowns. We can avoid massive restrictive movements if everyone plays their part," van Kerkhove told a virtual press briefing, stressing that it would require personal "sacrifices" from individuals.
Governments, on their part, are now equipped with tools, such as ample testing and "finding suspect cases," which could enable them not to lock down entire countries again, like it was the case in the spring, the WHO official said.
WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11. To date, there have been almost 43 million cases confirmed worldwide, including over 1.1 million deaths.
