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Social distancing and hand-cleaning measures should not be relaxed after countries ease their coronavirus blockades, global health experts warned.
The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) also said countries must remain committed to finding tests and treatments for the virus.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke at a press conference on Monday when some countries, including Italy, began easing some of their blockade restrictions.
The UK government must review the current closure measures before May 7 and, while the current restrictions are not expected to be lifted, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to establish a “road map” on Sunday that sets out the next steps.
Dr. Ghebreyesus said: “Several countries are now beginning to ease so-called orders and orders to stay home.”
“But our common commitment to basic measures, such as hand cleaning and physical distancing, cannot be relaxed, nor can the commitment to the tools that underlie the answer: fund a valid test and cure for each case and track each contact. “
Dr. Ghebreyesus said that at a two-day event for leaders from around 40 countries, € 7.4 billion was pledged to tackle Covid-19.
He said it was a powerful sign of global solidarity against the virus and added: “The antidotes for this virus are national unity and global solidarity.”
Johnson described the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine as the “most urgent shared effort of our lives” and called on nations to “unite” in response to the pandemic.
The coronavirus has claimed nearly 249,000 lives worldwide, according to an analysis by Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO health emergencies program, also said at the briefing in Geneva that contact locator apps cannot replace health workers on the ground.
He said that while apps that update people on whether people have been infected near them or help with contract tracking can “improve” the process, countries that have tackled the virus have “more boots on the ground.” .
He added: “They (applications) are an additional measure that will potentially improve the efficiency of the contact tracking process, but they will not do it by themselves.”
Health Secretary Matt Hancock urged people to download a new contact tracking app that he says will be a key way to keep the virus under control.
The trial version of the app will take place on the Isle of Wight and could be rolled out across the UK in a matter of weeks if it is successful.
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