World Health Organisation criticises UK reopening and says it's 'too early to talk about freedom'

[UndercoverToad]

The WHO has taken a strong stance against England's plans for reopening over the last few days, and a spokesperson has used perhaps some of the strongest words yet.

Dr David Nabarro, the WHO's special envoy on COVID-19, said the "pandemic is advancing ferociously around the world" and "I don't think we've anywhere near got through the worst of it".

Asked about the government's switch to personal responsibility, he told Radio 4's Today programme: "All this doesn't quite fit with the position that was taken by Britain, along with other nations, some months ago when there was a real effort to try to prevent large numbers of people getting the disease, partly because of the risk of death and partly because of the recognition of the risk of long COVID.

"It's necessary to be unequivocal on this particular challenge. What does urging caution mean? It's important that everybody knows the best possible advice on how to prevent themselves being infected.

"I accept that vaccination has changed the nature of the equation in the UK but quite honestly from any point of view it's too early to be talking about massive relaxation or freedom when the outbreak curve is on such a sharp ascent.

"Yes, relax, but don't have these mixed messages about what's going on. This dangerous virus hasn't gone away, it's variants are coming back and are threatening those who have already been vaccinated - we have to take it seriously."

@UndercoverToad at 17.22 BST you said the following countries had done a wondrous job with Covid.

Many African countries. Vietnam. New Zealand. Singapore. Japan. China. Korea.

So my question back is ok. What will they do now? What’s their next step?

A culture of consumption is categorically not limited to the west. I do really wonder about ppls understanding of the world on here sometimes.

en.unesco.org/courier/2021-3/pandemics-humans-are-culprits

Read this!!!

@Blessex no way did I say wondrous!! I said a more effective approach. Do we have one of the worst death tolls worldwide? Are we a shining example of how to handle Covid? No!!

@TheKeatingFive

A culture of consumption is categorically not limited to the west. I do really wonder about ppls understanding of the world on here sometimes.

China enthusiastically destroyed much of its own natural environment during the Cultural Revolution and 'Great Leap Forward', but I guess that was the fault of 'the West' too.

@TheKeatingFive we are BY FAR the worst culprits of waste and exploitation. To the extent that we ship all our plastic waste out to Asian countries to deal with!!

we are BY FAR the worst culprits of waste and exploitation. To the extent that we ship all our plastic waste out to Asian countries to deal with!!

You still haven’t answered why the practices of Chinese wet markets (the direct cause of this pandemic) are the west’s fault.

@IcedPurple look at our demand for cheap soy fed chicken - and the vast farming and deforestation that accommodates this!

[quote UndercoverToad]@IcedPurple look at our demand for cheap soy fed chicken - and the vast farming and deforestation that accommodates this![/quote]
What kind of chicken do the more than one billion Chinese eat?

@UndercoverToad you haven’t answered my question. What will these ‘effective’ countries do next? Please answer the question.

@TheKeatingFive I have - look at the article I posted. Our demand for cheap food/goods is greedy and the direct cause of a loss of biodiversity. If a disease from a contaminated animal ends up in a wet market in China, it’s partly because our Western demands have led to habitat destruction.

Intensive farming – especially the clearing of forests to expand farming – can increase the frequency of contact between humans and wildlife and expose us to diseases never encountered before by humans, O’Brien explains. “We are bringing together wildlife that would never naturally encounter each other in nature, creating bizarre links in a chain that can allow a disease to jump from one species to humans via another species, even if that disease might not be able to get to us directly.”

This is us!! We are responsible for this!

We consume to a horrific extent, and we exploit lesser developed nations to cater for our needs!!

@UndercoverToad

We consume to a horrific extent, and we exploit lesser developed nations to cater for our needs!!

That's really not very nice of you. You should stop doing it.

If there's a problem, they said so.
If everything works out gloriously, they think we got lucky.
Win-win.
Hard to see why the WHO wouldn't criticise to be honest.

The exact same critique can of course be given to every single country with anyone vaccinated and not in a lockdown, there is no specific confirmed set of restrictions that are common worldwide and that research has confirmed control cases entirely on their own with no other restrictions needed. Vulnerable unvaccinated getting hospital treatment are the main issue for variants, and most of them aren't in the UK because of high vaccination rates. UK risks can also be contained; if hospitalization increases out of range then u-turn will be the way. A bigger issue is that opening up will stir up anger among various anti-restriction people in other countries who can't try the same, as well as reopening vaccine quantity wounds.

Oh come on @IcedPurple. We need to stop blaming others, and stop playing the victim. Every time I buy shit from Amazon that I don’t really need, every time I buy cheap meat from the supermarket, every time I buy single use plastic - I am contributing to habitat destruction and the chance of yet another pandemic.

@UndercoverToad

Oh come on *@IcedPurple*. We need to stop blaming others, and stop playing the victim. Every time I buy shit from Amazon that I don’t really need, every time I buy cheap meat from the supermarket, every time I buy single use plastic - I am contributing to habitat destruction and the chance of yet another pandemic.

Maybe stop?

@MarshaBradyo is it easier to lay the blame squarely on me - rather than accept that we all at fault?

@UndercoverToad

Oh come on *@IcedPurple*. We need to stop blaming others, and stop playing the victim. Every time I buy shit from Amazon that I don’t really need, every time I buy cheap meat from the supermarket, every time I buy single use plastic - I am contributing to habitat destruction and the chance of yet another pandemic.

Stop doing it then.

[quote UndercoverToad]@MarshaBradyo is it easier to lay the blame squarely on me - rather than accept that we all at fault?[/quote]
You’re still doing it though?

The stuff you list is pretty easy to change. Much easier than some other things

@IcedPurple - well I’m trying! Are you?

[quote UndercoverToad]@IcedPurple - well I’m trying! Are you?[/quote]
Me? I only wear homespun linen and eat only wholesome artisan fair trade lentils, as well as the organic vegetables I grow in my garden.

So there!

We do not know how long these current vaccinations will last irrespective of new variants. So this could be the highest vaccination rates we achieve over the summer, schools out etc., most elderly still somewhat protected by vaccines.
I think the WHO are criticising the UK because 1) we could cook up a new variant with such high rates and 2) we are allowing our citizens to travel overseas to countries where vaccination rates are lower. However, this is precisely what China did originally - they allowed people to leave the country despite knowing that they had a serious virus on their hands. WHO at the time produced a very pro-China report which was too biased at the time. I have “forgiven” them for this as I think since then they have been more accurate, but many in politics here have not. So yes, the UK approach is somewhat risky and selfish but not as bad as what China did originally which the WHO covered up for. However, we should learn from our mistakes globally?
It is perfectly possible this virus will mutate forever and shave X number of years off life expectancy and that modern medicine will need to be better funded/simply not cope with it in its current state and that most people will have to start being “healthier” to do their best to be able to fight the virus. It is pretty nasty. It is possible that we will come to that conclusion as a human race. The trouble is that politicians are meant to serve their own citizens best, that is their mandate. They do not have a duty of care towards citizens in other countries. If we cook up a new variant are we to blame? Is China to blame for the initial virus? I do not know the answers to these questions. My inclination is yes, to both.

Me? I only wear homespun linen and eat only wholesome artisan fair trade lentils, as well as the organic vegetables I grow in my garden.

Man, you're living it large. I only live on left overs and when I self flagilate for the sins of the West, I drink my own tears.

If we cook up a new variant are we to blame?

The rest of the world is free to deny entry to British residents if they fear the 'cooking up' of a new variant. They can focus on baking their own new variants that way.