The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), outlined his agency’s latest advice to countries on Monday in a statement, stressing that a mix of social distancing, testing, contact tracing, and isolation, will be crucial to further curb the spread of the new coronavirus already devastating much of the globe.
“We’re all learning all the time and adjusting our strategy, based on the latest available evidence”, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, summarizing the guidance which will be available in full on the agency’s website on Tuesday.
He noted that a broad spectrum of COVID-19 responses are currently in place across the globe, based on national circumstances and capacity. While some countries have already endured several weeks of social and economic restrictions – and are now considering easing them – others are just beginning to consider whether and when to introduce such controls.
What we know
“We can only say what we know, and we can only act on what we know”, said Tedros, emphasizing that emerging evidence is beginning to crystalize a better understanding of COVID-19, how it behaves, how to treat it and how to halt its further spread.
COVID-19 is estimated to be 10 times deadlier than the 2009 flu pandemic. It spreads most easily in crowded environments, such as nursing homes, and in some countries the number of cases is doubling every 3 to 4 days.
Against that backdrop, WHO stresses that early case-finding, testing, isolation and care – as well as tracing every contact of infected individuals – is essential to stop transmission. Physical distancing restrictions are one part of the equation, but many other public health measures are also needed.
And because COVID-19 accelerates quickly but decelerates much more slowly, control measures will need to be lifted very slowly – not all at once.
“In other words, the way down is much slower than the way up”, said the UN health agency chief.
Six steps to ease restrictions
In its updated guidance, WHO is expected to summarize those findings and chart the way forward with a new, six-point set of criteria for countries to consider as they weigh whether to lift restrictions already imposed against COVID-19.
He noted that a broad spectrum of COVID-19 responses are currently in place across the globe, based on national circumstances and capacity. While some countries have already endured several weeks of social and economic restrictions – and are now considering easing them – others are just beginning to consider whether and when to introduce such controls.
What we know
“We can only say what we know, and we can only act on what we know”, said Tedros, emphasizing that emerging evidence is beginning to crystalize a better understanding of COVID-19, how it behaves, how to treat it and how to halt its further spread.
COVID-19 is estimated to be 10 times deadlier than the 2009 flu pandemic. It spreads most easily in crowded environments, such as nursing homes, and in some countries the number of cases is doubling every 3 to 4 days.
Against that backdrop, WHO stresses that early case-finding, testing, isolation and care – as well as tracing every contact of infected individuals – is essential to stop transmission. Physical distancing restrictions are one part of the equation, but many other public health measures are also needed.
And because COVID-19 accelerates quickly but decelerates much more slowly, control measures will need to be lifted very slowly – not all at once.
“In other words, the way down is much slower than the way up”, said the UN health agency chief.
Six steps to ease restrictions
In its updated guidance, WHO is expected to summarize those findings and chart the way forward with a new, six-point set of criteria for countries to consider as they weigh whether to lift restrictions already imposed against COVID-19.