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Lockdown lifting ‘very premature’, WHO expert says
It is “very premature” of countries to scrap Covid restrictions and try to rush back to normal, a World Health Organisation (WHO) expert has warned.
“We’ve made a very premature rush back to full normality and I think we’re going to pay a price for that,” said Dr Michael Ryan, head of the WHO’s health emergencies programme, pointing to the risk of variants and the need for more people to be vaccinated.
His warning comes as the UK government has said it will drop social distancing and mandatory mask-wearing from 19 July, while acknowledging the pandemic was far from over.
