October 13, 2020: The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned against the idea of allowing Covid-19 to simply spread through society, calling this “herd immunity” approach to fighting the pandemic “unethical.”
“Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding an outbreak, let alone a pandemic,” said WHO chief Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus said during a virtual briefing on Monday, calling the idea “unethical.”
Tedros added that herd immunity to a virus is usually achieved when the vast majority of the population, 80 percent, in the case of polio, is vaccinated, rather than deliberately infected.
“The vast majority of people in most countries remain susceptible to this virus,” he said, adding that “allowing a dangerous virus that we don’t fully understand to run free is simply unethical. It’s not an option.”
Tedros’ words came days after the WHO’s Dr. David Nabarro warned world leaders against using lockdowns as their “primary control method” against the virus.
Nabarro explained that lockdowns only buy healthcare systems time to “reorganize, regroup, [and] rebalance your resources,” and have disastrous economic consequences that worsen poverty and inequality in society.
The WHO did not always oppose lockdowns, but it cautioned at the outset of the pandemic that, unless accompanied by proper systems of isolation and contact tracing, they would only pause the spread of the virus.
Worldwide, nearly 38 million cases of Covid-19 have been recorded, along with more than a million deaths.
U.S.
The U.S. has seen the highest number of cases and deaths in the world, with 7.7 million and nearly 215,000 respectively.
WHO warns of ‘very serious’ Covid-19 situation in Europe
About a month ago, the WHO warned:
Europe is facing a “very serious situation” with the coronavirus spreading at “alarming rates.”
The number of new Covid-19 cases in Europe has surpassed the spikes observed during the first wave of the disease that swept across the continent early this year, WHO Regional Director Hans Kluge said during a news conference on Thursday.
Hans Kluge said:
“Weekly cases have now exceeded those reported when the pandemic first peaked in Europe in March,” he said. “Last week, the region’s weekly tally exceeded 300,000 patients.”
Over half of European nations have reported an increase of more than 10 percent in their new coronavirus cases over the past two weeks, while seven of them have seen a more-than-twofold increase, the official said, urging the nations to re-impose lockdown measures as soon as possible.
“In the spring and early summer we were able to see the impact of strict lockdown measures. Our efforts, our sacrifices, paid off. In June, cases hit an all-time low. The September case numbers, however, should serve as a wake-up call for all of us,” he warned.
Even those countries which been relatively spared by the pandemic have observed a sharp increase in active cases.
(Courtesy: Countercurrents, an Indian newswebsite. Article is an extract.)
