A special adviser to the World Health Organization (WHO) urged governments not to use quarantine as the main strategy to control the spread of COVID-19 and warned about the increase in poverty as a result of the restrictions.

At the World Health Organization we do not advocate quarantines as the main means of controlling this virus, said Dr. David Nabarro, one of the six special envoys of the WHO for Covid-19, in an interview.

“The only time we think a quarantine is justified is to buy time to reorganize, regroup and rebalance your resources; protect health workers who are exhausted. But in general, we prefer not to ”.

The specialist, in charge of the WHO for the coronavirus in Europe, explained that the blockades “only have one consequence that should never be underestimated and that is to make poor people much poorer.”

According to Nabarro, the economic impact on small countries that depend on tourism and the increase in poverty levels are two important effects of quarantines and he cited as an example the damage suffered in places like the Caribbean or the Pacific due to the massive cancellation of the travel or losses of small farmers around the world because their markets have been hit.

Source: The Eastern Herald