Dr David Nabarro: 'We must be on the defence against Covid all the time'

1 October 2020, 08:39

Dr David Nabarro: "Life with the virus will be fearful"

Rachael Kennedy

By Rachael Kennedy

Life alongside coronavirus won't be completely without fear as we have to be on the defence "all the time," an expert has told LBC.

Dr David Nabarro, a World Health Organisation (WHO) special envoy on Covid-19, stressed on Thursday the importance of trying to plateau case numbers as we try to make adapted human behaviour "second nature".

He told LBC's Nick Ferrari: "We can't live completely without fear because we're going to have to be on the defence against this virus all the time.

"That's going to be the state of life for the next few months.

"Fend against it, get ahead of it, hold it at bay, stop it getting up."

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His comments come the morning after the country was warned in a Downing Street press conference that it was at a "critical" moment in the pandemic as the virus is not currently under control.

Despite growing numbers of new cases reported in recent days, Boris Johnson said he would not be returning to a national lockdown seen in March, but "will not hesitate" to take further measures "if the evidence requires it".

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He said: "I really don't want to do this. I don't want to go back to a national lockdown where the overall guidance is stay at home, that is not what we are saying.

"We want to keep the economy moving. We want to keep young people, pupils in education."

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"But the only way we can do that is if we all follow the guidance and depress the virus."

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Back in the studio, Dr Nabarro agreed with the PM as he said another national lockdown would be "brutal".

The only way to avoid this, he warned, would be to be "super respectful" of Covid-19 while we live along side it and make room for normal life, other treatment and screenings to get underway.

"You've got to keep the numbers down because that will build up super fast," he said.

"If you just let Covid go, it will become much worse than influenza.

READ MORE: PM warns of 'critical moment' as he urges public to stick to the rules

"So we've got to have the effort to keep the numbers down, while at the same time as we've done that and as we get life going, we can get cancer treatment and screening back in place again. We want both.

"So what I'm saying to everybody: Do what we've got to do about this virus.

"We've almost got to make it second nature. And then let's get on with our lives."