Giving up controlling Covid-19 would be ‘dangerous’, says the WHO chief

World Health Organization leader Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday that “relinquishing control” of the coronavirus pandemic was “dangerous” in response to comments from U.S. President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows.

“We must not give up,” Tedros told a virtual briefing.

He acknowledged that after months of fighting with Covid-19, which has claimed more than 1.1 million lives globally, there had been a certain level of “pandemic fatigue”.

“It’s hard and the fatigue is real,” Tedros said.

But we can not give up, “he added, urging leaders to” balance disruptions in life and livelihoods. “

“When leaders act quickly, the virus can be suppressed,” he insisted.

His comment came a day after US President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows told CNN that the administration’s focus had shifted to mitigation without eradicating the virus.

“We are not going to control the pandemic. We will control that we get vaccines, therapeutic agents and other cures,” Meadows said, comparing the more deadly Covid-19 to the seasonal flu.

Tedros said giving up virus control was “dangerous”.

When asked about the comments, WHO’s emergency chief Michael Ryan insisted that although counteracting the effects of the pandemic was crucial, efforts to beat the virus could not be abandoned.

“We should not give up trying to suppress transmission,” Ryan said.

( Jowharwith AFP)