WHO: Reopening too soon may trigger cycle of lockdowns, economic disasters

GENEVA - The World Health Organization continues to warn countries around the globe about the dangers of reopening their economies and lifting restrictions too soon. Top officials with the WHO said public health authorities and governments at all levels need to remain on alert for the virus and be able to respond properly to new cases.

''Many countries would like to get out of the different measures that are being taken and that is rightly so, but our recommendation is still the alert of any country should be at the highest level possible," Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, said at a briefing on Wednesday. "Whatever measures we take should be a very phase one that reflects the countries' situation.''

More than 4.3 million cases of the virus have been reported around the world. About 295,000 people have died.

Dr. Michael Ryan, the WHO's executive director for health emergencies, said that counties that reopen when the virus is still spreading quickly risk increasing that rate of transmission.

"If that virus transmission accelerates and you don't have the systems to detect it, it will be days or weeks before you know something's gone wrong and by the time that happens you're back into a situation where your only response is another lockdown," Ryan said. "This is what we all fear, is a vicious cycle of public health disaster followed by economic disaster followed by public health disaster followed by economic disaster.''

Ryan added that the world still has a long way to go before any "bells unrung in this response."

"Countries, as you've seen, are trying to find a path out and a path towards a 'new normal' as many people have put it," Ryan said. "And we're going to be on that pathway for a long, long time."

The United Nations released a report on Wednesday forecasting that the COVID-19 pandemic will shrink the world economy by 3.2% this year. That would be the sharpest contraction since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

This story was produced from New York City.