WHO envoy Dr. David Nabarro:

> "We in the World Health Organization do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of control of this virus"

> "The only time we believe a lockdown is justified is to buy you time to reorganize, regroup, rebalance your resources, protect your health workers who are exhausted, but by and large, we’d rather not do it."

> "Lockdowns just have one consequence that you must never, ever belittle, and that is making poor people an awful lot poorer"

> "Just look at what’s happened to the tourism industry in the Caribbean, for example, or in the Pacific because people aren’t taking their holidays"

> "Look what’s happened to smallholder farmers all over the world. Look what’s happening to poverty levels. It seems that we may well have a doubling of world poverty by next year. We may well have at least a doubling of child malnutrition."

I don't think this is new, controversial, or a "backflip" (as some headlines have claimed). This is pretty much what the general guidance has been since March.

In his first point, he notes:

"People are encouraged to adopt all precautions all the time. As Tedros of WHO says: ‘Do it All’: physical distancing, proper face-masking, hand/cough/surface hygiene, self-isolating when ill and shielding those most at risk. There should be no exceptions anywhere. This is best achieved through engaging people and trusting them rather than coercion if at all possible."

While he encourages voluntary measures rather than coercive ones, he is also clear: there should be no exceptions to mask-wearing and social distancing. That's politically hard to achieve in many countries. Hence, economic lockdowns instead.

"We in the World Health Organization do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of control of this virus ... Lockdowns just have one consequence that you must never, ever belittle, and that is making poor people an awful lot poorer"