The European director of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned against using lockdowns to combat the novel coronavirus, arguing the policy is so bad for public health, it should be used only when “absolutely necessary.”
During a Thursday briefing, Hans Kluge, European director of the WHO, urged governments to enact “proportional” responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. He stressed that authorities should be cautious when it came to heavy-handed policies such as lockdowns. While there was certainly cause for “concern,” with cases having surged in several European countries that previously appeared to have the virus under control, it was imperative to avoid “panic” and not to overreact and impose draconian measures, he warned.
Kluge said “systematic and general mask-wearing” in public and private places, and “strict controls on social gatherings” could save 300,000 lives across Europe in the next six months. But national lockdowns should be “a last resort”, he cautioned, as they do more harm than good.
“We have to look at what I call the collateral damage – mental health, domestic sexual violence,” and other negative outcomes such as children falling behind in school, he said, as well as “very important microeconomic consequences” like massive unemployment and financial insecurity, arguing that focusing on Covid-19 cases alone risked overlooking greater harms.
One thing we learned from the corona crisis is it is hitting disproportionately the vulnerable.