WHO official warns against reopening too quickly

The head of the World Health Organization is warning that opening up societies too quickly amid the coronavirus pandemic is a “recipe for disaster.” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus advises that “the more control countries have over the virus, the more they can open up,” and insists that countries that are serious about opening up must also be serious about suppressing transmission.

“This may seem like an impossible balance, but it's not,” he told reporters in Geneva.

Tedros cited four key points that countries, communities and individuals should focus on: preventing “amplifying events” - as the virus thrives on clusters; protecting vulnerable groups; people taking steps individually to protect themselves; and finding, isolating, testing and caring for cases, while tracing and quarantining their contacts.