Many experts believe the implementation of several lockdowns means national lockdowns are generally not effective in stopping the spread of coronavirus.
Professor Michaelis however disagrees and believes strict restrictions are an important and effective way to keep Covid-19 under control.
The molecular medicine professor told Express.co.uk: “In my opinion, a strict national lockdown is a good first step to bring the number of cases under control.
“In an ideal scenario, the whole world would have gone into a lockdown when SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus that causes Covid-19, was discovered at the end of 2019.
“At this time, there was probably a window of opportunity, during which a worldwide lockdown could have eradicated this new disease for good.
“However, we have missed this window and Covid-19 is now probably so widespread, that it will be impossible to eliminate it from the human population.
“In this scenario, a national lockdown can reduce Covid-19 spread but not completely get rid of the disease.
“Even countries like Taiwan, New Zealand, and Australia that do not currently have domestic cases, still report infections imported by travellers.
“This means that a worldwide effort would be necessary to stamp out Covid-19.
“However, a lockdown can reduce the Covid-19 spread to a level, at which it can be controlled by other measures without further lockdowns or other far-reaching restrictions.
“Such measures would then include isolating and testing everyone with infectious disease symptoms and their contacts plus regular testing of as many asymptomatic individuals as possible to identify hidden transmission chains as early as possible.”
