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Countries lifting lockdown could face ‘immediate second peak’
Countries where coronavirus infections are declining could face an “immediate second peak” if they ease measures to halt the outbreak too early, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned.
WHO emergencies head Mike Ryan noted epidemics often came in waves, which means that outbreaks could come back later this year in places where the first wave has subsided. But he added the first wave of the disease could peak again before then if governments lift lockdowns too hastily.
“When we speak about a second wave classically what we often mean is there will be a first wave of the disease by itself, and then it recurs months later. And that may be a reality for many countries in a number of months’ time,” Ryan told an online briefing on Monday.
“But we need also to be cognisant of the fact that the disease can jump up at any time. We cannot make assumptions that just because the disease is on the way down now it is going to keep going down and we are get a number of months to get ready for a second wave. We may get a second peak in this wave.”
Ryan also noted that while cases are declining in many countries they are still increasing in Central and South America, South Asia and Africa.
He said countries in Europe and North America should “continue to put in place the public health and social measures, the surveillance measures, the testing measures and a comprehensive strategy to ensure that we continue on a downwards trajectory and we don’t have an immediate second peak.”
Many European countries and US states have taken steps in recent weeks to lift lockdown measures that curbed the spread of the disease but caused severe harm to economies.