WHO Envoy Slaps Down Britain for Suggesting Wearing Masks Could End

TOPSHOT - An elderly pedestrian wearing a face mask or covering due to the COVID-19 pandem
ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images
Victoria Friedman

The World Health Organization’s envoy to the UK has told Britons not to ditch their masks after the end of lockdown restrictions, as the government is reportedly set to end the mandate ordering face coverings as early as next month.

Dr David Nabarro told Michelle Dewberry on GB News on Wednesday that he did not want Britons to think that they can “burn all your masks and go and hug everybody you see and not worry about washing your hands after the 19th 0f July.

“I’m just saying we have to continue to be careful for quite a lot longer because the virus has absolutely not disappeared.”

Asking to clarify whether he wanted measures to remain on a mandatory basis, Dr Nabarro signalled that he wanted Britons to continue with social distancing and mask-wearing voluntarily.

“I’ve been saying for some months, now, that we have to find a way to move away from people being instructed to behave in particular ways to a point where people do it because they want to,” the WHO envoy said.

Britons have been legally required to wear masks in public enclosed spaces, including supermarkets, shops, and on public transport since last summer.

Last week, Dr Nabarro had said that social distancing and wearing masks might be required in areas of high infections in future.

Nabarro’s remarks come as reports claim that the government is set to make wearing masks voluntary only under plans to end coronavirus restrictions, which could happen on July 19th.

Other rules set to be scrapped on so-called ‘Freedom Day’ — which Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already postponed from June 21st — include social distancing rules and limits on the number of people who may gather indoors.

The Daily Mail also claims that ministers will drop any potential plans for domestic vaccine passports, which had previously been floated as an option for entry to large events like concerts and sports matches.

A source told the newspaper that while the government has not yet made its “final decisions”, the prime minister is keen to drop as many rules as possible.

A Number 10 spokesman said of the mask mandate: “We aim to remove as many restrictions as is safe to do so.”

It comes after England’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty is reported to have told a Cabinet meeting earlier this week that currently, he sees no impediment to lifting lockdown restrictions on July 19th.

Several scientists who have been advising the government have been reluctant to agree with the ending of measures, some saying that behaviours like wearing masks should go on “forever”.

A member of the influential Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (SAGE), Professor Susan Michie, said last month that mask-wearing and social distancing would need to be maintained “in the long term” and possibly “forever to some extent because this isn’t going to be the last pandemic”.

While SAGE’s Dr Susan Hopkins, who is also Public Health England’s (PHE) chief COVID-19 advisor, has said Britain “may have to do further lockdowns this Winter”.

Regardless of what SAGE and WHO scientists may be advising, two Cabinet ministers — Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Environment Secretary George Eustace — have stated publicly that they will be ditching their masks “as soon as possible”.

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