WHO says travel bans cannot be indefinite
A surge of infections has prompted countries to reimpose some travel restrictions in recent days, with Britain throwing the reopening of Europe's tourism industry into disarray by ordering a quarantine on travelers returning from Spain.
Only with strict adherence to health measures, from wearing masks to avoiding crowds, would the world manage to beat the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization's director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at a virtual news briefing in Geneva.
WHO emergencies program head Mike Ryan said it was impossible for countries to keep borders shut for the foreseeable future.
"It is going to be almost impossible for individual countries to keep their borders shut for the foreseeable future. Economies have to open up, people have to work, trade has to resume," he said.
