What has been, for several months, a sustained global discourse on the role of so-called ‘lockdowns’ in pushing back the spread of the dreaded novel coronavirus as against its impact on the socio-economic well-being of countries, is gathering a fresh head of steam. This follows what appears to have been the taking-out-of-context of comments made by a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official on governments’ application of the ‘lockdown’ mechanism as a means of seeking to control the spread of the virus.
Back in April WHO Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, had reportedly written in a WHO strategy paper that the international community should continue to use the ‘lockdown’ approach until the disease was deemed to have been brought under control.