WHO Myth busters: Taking a hot bath does not prevent the new coronavirus disease

by Public Health Update April 18, 2020

WHO Myth busters: Taking a hot bath does not prevent the new coronavirus disease

Taking a hot bath will not prevent you from catching COVID-19. Your normal body temperature remains around 36.5°C to 37°C, regardless of the temperature of your bath or shower. Actually, taking a hot bath with extremely hot water can be harmful, as it can burn you. The best way to protect yourself against COVID-19 is by frequently cleaning your hands. By doing this you eliminate viruses that may be on your hands and avoid infection that could occur by then touching your eyes, mouth, and nose.

Exposing yourself to the sun or to temperatures higher than 25C degrees DOES NOT prevent the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

You can catch COVID-19, no matter how sunny or hot the weather is. Countries with hot weather have reported cases of COVID-19. To protect yourself, make sure you clean your hands frequently and thoroughly and avoid touching your eyes, mouth, and nose.

Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) advice for the public: Myth busters
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters

April 18, 2020 0 comments

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The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program Learning Hub

by Public Health Update April 18, 2020

written by Public Health Update

The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program Learning Hub

The DHS Program’s Learning Hub provides DHS data users worldwide with online learning resources to support capacity strengthening activities. Specifically, it is designed for survey implementing organizations and members of the public who are participating in DHS workshops and online courses.

The DHS Program Learning Hub makes learning opportunities available to a global audience. The Learning Hub uses the latest technologies and eLearning tools to increase capacity for data collection and use. The Learning Hub is user-friendly, versatile, and works seamlessly on mobile devices with a visually appealing style.

Registration process

Registration is easy and free.

The DHS Program Learning Hub To access available courses, please click “Create an Account” or “Log In” in the top right corner of the screen.

Explore the Learning Hub to discover available courses.

The DHS Program Learning Hub

WHO Online Course! COVID-19: How to put on and remove personal protective equipment

Online Course on: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission, complications, diagnosis, and more

Online Course on: Research Ethics Training Curriculum (RETC)

April 18, 2020 0 comments

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WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 17 April 2020

by Public Health Update April 18, 2020

written by Public Health Update

WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 17 April 2020

17 April 2020

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening.

Tomorrow, WHO is joining forces with many of the world’s leading musicians, comedians and humanitarians for the “One World, Together At Home” virtual global special.

This is the result of a close collaboration with my good friend Hugh Evans from Global Citizen, and the inspirational Lady Gaga, to bring entertainment, joy and hope into the homes of people all around the world, whose lives have been turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic.

I would also like to use this opportunity to thank Lady Gaga’s mother Cynthia Germanotta, who is our Goodwill Ambassador, and is doing a great job advocating for mental health around the world – thank you so much Lady Gaga and Cynthia for your continued support and help. This is a family project and we appreciate your leadership and contribution.

This is an opportunity to express our solidarity with frontline workers, and to mobilize philanthropists, the private sector and governments to support the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, powered by the United Nations Foundation and the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation.

So far, the Solidarity Response Fund has generated more than US$150 million from more than 245,000 individuals, corporations and foundations.

These funds are helping us to buy personal protective equipment, laboratory diagnostics and other essential supplies for the countries that need it most.

I would like to say thank you so much, thank you from our heart to those who have contributed.

For further details about tomorrow’s events, I’m delighted to welcome once again my friend and my brother Hugh Evans to say a few words, to be followed by the amazing Lady Gaga.

Hugh, over to you.

[HUGH EVANS AND LADY GAGA ADDRESSED THE MEDIA]

Thank you so much, Lady Gaga and thank you Hugh. I look forward to joining you and millions of people all over the world tomorrow for what I’m sure will be a wonderful event.

I share what Lady Gaga said: what the world needs is love and solidarity. So please accept much gratitude and much love from myself, Lada Gaga and Hugh Evans, and all our colleagues here. That’s what the world needs: love and solidarity to defeat this dangerous enemy.

More than 2 million cases of COVID-19 have now been reported to WHO, and more than 135,000 people have lost their lives.

While we mourn for those we’ve lost, we also celebrate those who have survived, and the thousands of people who are now recovering.

WHO is updating our guidance to include recommendations for caring for patients during their recovery period and after hospital discharge.

We’re encouraged that several countries in Europe and North America are now starting to plan how to ease social restrictions.

We have said previously that easing these measures must be a gradual process, and we’ve spoken about the criteria that countries should consider.

Yesterday we published our guidance on considerations in adjusting public health and social measures, which we encourage countries to read and apply.

But although we see encouraging signs in some countries, there are worrying trends in others.

In the past week there has been a 51% increase in the number of reported cases in my own continent, Africa, and a 60% increase in the number of reported deaths.

With the current challenge of obtaining testing kits, it’s likely that the real numbers are higher than reported.

With WHO support, most countries in Africa now have the capacity to test for COVID-19, but there are still significant gaps in access to testing kits. We’re working with partners to fill those gaps and help countries find the virus.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced yesterday that more than 1 million tests for COVID-19 will be rolled out across the continent starting next week.

Strengthening and supporting African institutions like the Africa CDC will help now and fur the future.

To further strengthen support for Africa, earlier this afternoon I spoke with President Ramaphosa of South Africa, Moussa Faki Mahamat, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, and the President of the World Bank, David Malpass.

===

In addition to tests, we’re also working hard to accelerate the development, production and equitable distribution of a vaccine.

Yesterday I spoke to President Emmanuel Macron of France, Bill Gates and other partners to discuss how to prevent another pandemic by getting vaccines from labs to people as fast as possible and as equitably as possible. The commitment from President Macron, from Bill Gates and also from Prime Minister Boris Johnson is heart-warming.

I also spoke to the Prime Minister of Barbados and the current chair of Caribbean countries about the challenges faced by small island developing states in gaining access to test kits and other supplies. No country should be left behind.

I would like to use this opportunity to appreciate the strong leadership of the Prime Minister of Barbados steering the response in the Caribbean.

Today I also spoke to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, about continuing efforts across Europe to fight the pandemic and support lives and livelihoods.

The commitment of both leaders, President Von der Leyen and Prime Minister Marin is very heartwarming again.

I would like to clarify WHO’s position on “wet markets”.

Wet markets are an important source of affordable food and livelihood for millions of people all over the world.

But in many places, they have been poorly regulated and poorly maintained.

WHO’s position is that when these markets are allowed to reopen, it should only be on the condition that they conform to stringent food safety and hygiene standards.

Governments must rigorously enforce bans on the sale and trade of wildlife for food.

WHO has worked closely with the World Organization for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, to develop guidance on the safe operation of markets.

Because an estimated 70% of all new viruses come from animals, we also work together closely to understand and prevent pathogens crossing from animals to humans.

Finally, WHO is committed to keeping the world informed in as many ways as possible, in as many languages as possible.

Our Viber chatbot is now reaching 2.6 million people with reliable, evidence-based information, and is available in 16 languages.

This week we launched Tamil, Sinhala, Bulgarian, Greek, Italian and Hungarian, and we plan to launch Polish and Bangla next week.

I’m pleased to say that from Monday, we will be providing simultaneous interpretation for these press conferences in all official UN languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish.

We’re also planning to expand to include other languages like Swahili and Hindi.

We look forward to having more journalists join us from all over the world.

I thank you.

WHO

WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 17 April 2020

April 18, 2020 0 comments

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Flattening the curve on COVID-19: What is the secret of Korea’s successful response?

by Public Health Update April 17, 2020

written by Public Health Update

Flattening the curve on COVID-19: What is the secret of Korea’s successful response?

With the spread of COVID-19, the world is facing an unprecedented economic, social and political crisis. Global leaders and experts said COVID-19 is and will be “the gravest challenge since the World War II.” The number of new coronavirus cases increases exponentially peaking at 909 new infections on February 29 in Korea. But new case has dropped significantly. Korea was able to successfully flatten the curve on COVID-19 in only 20 days without enforcing extreme draconian measures that restrict freedom and movement of people. Following activities were implemented to Flattening the curve on COVID-19 in Korea.

Mobile devices

ICTs played a vital role in fighting COVID-19 in Korea. Mobile devices were used to support early testing and contact tracing. Advanced ICTs were particularly useful in spreading key emergency information on novel virus and help to maintain extensive ‘social distancing’. The testing results and latest information on COVID-19 was made available via national and local government websites. The government provided free smartphone apps flagged infection hotspots with text alerts on testing and local cases.

ICT helps social distancing

Emergency broadcasting service (CBS, cellular broadcasting service): The Cellular Broadcasting Service, or CBS, enables government agencies to transmit emergency alert text messages on natural or manmade disasters to cell phones through mobile telecom carriers in Korea.

Smart Working

A special website providing information of solution companies for remote working
As services not requiring in-person contact are on the rise due to COVID-19, solutions needed for remote working and remote learning will be provided. The Korean government opened a website to provide information about companies providing solutions for remote working and education and their products; related support will also be provided. Information about free solutions is also available so that they can be utilized for remote learning and remote working.
Smart working and social distancing (Holding virtual video conferences)
Cyber Security Guidelines for Staff Working Remotely

Remote Education

Providing educational contents by the central government
Korean government created a general information page on the science portal website, ScienceAll, to introduce diverse online science content, which contains educational content for science, mathematics and software; immersive content for learning science (AR, VR); video clips, comics and quizzes about science.
EBS (Korea Educational Broadcasting System) and educational websites
Korea’s pay TV providers, including the three major IPTV companies (KT, SKB, LGU+), cable TV and satellite TV, are providing real-time educational content such as EBS live lectures for primary and secondary school students on their channels.

Remote Medicare

The Korean government has temporarily permitted doctors to perform telemedicine from the end of February as part of preventive measures to avoid group contagion in vulnerable facilities including medical institutions and nursing homes. In other words, patients can receive phone consultations and have medicine prescribed without visiting medical institutions when the doctor considers it safe.
Remote medicine targeting confirmed coronavirus patients: The Moongyeong Seoul National University Hospital relies on video calls and electronic systems more safely and efficiently to monitor coronavirus patients hospitalized with mild symptoms.

Telemedicine using apps

Patients can log onto the Medihere app, select the hospital they want to visit, and make an appointment to see a doctor. They can receive remote medical advice via video call using the Telemedicine Treatment Room menu provided by the app. Prescriptions are sent to the pharmacy designated by the patient. Odoctor provides a service called Coronavirus 119 where self-reporting their symptoms allows patients to receive medical treatment and prescriptions. If a pharmacy has been designated beforehand, the hospital sends the prescription to the pharmacy. Medicine can be delivered by proxy or directly to the patient.

Predictive Research on the Spread of COVID-19

The government is making full use of Korea’s research capabilities to support the decision-making process of the infection control authorities, such as, sharing data, for accurate and reliable prediction of the spread of COVID-19. The Korean government is supporting predictive research on the spread of COVID-19 carried out by Korean researchers using diverse methods, by identifying and sharing data that can be used by researchers within the scope of data protection and also by helping researchers establish a professional network among them. Such support will be useful for forecasting the macroscopic spread of COVID-19 and the effectiveness of response measures, which will be helpful when making decisions needed for infection control.

Creating apps related to COVID-19

The app “Now and Here” calculates a mix of risk factors in surrounding areas when users enter their commuting routes.
The app Cobaek (an alert for coronavirus within 100 meters) sends an alarm when users are within 100 meters of a place that a confirmed patient visited.
Alerts for the availability of publicly provided masks at pharmacies.
The number of masks currently available at a given location is announced by color: green (more than 100), yellow (between 30 and 99), red (below 30), and grey (none available), and the information on mask sellers is automatically updated in accordance with the materials publicly released by the National Information Society Agency (NIA).

ICT locates COVID-19 with speedy TESTS

Developing the test-kit: A COVID-19 diagnostic kit was developed by a Korean biotech company using ICT, AI
and high-performance computing technology. It quickly became widely available and played a major role in eliminating uncertainties in the early stages of the viral spread. One of the reasons behind Korea’s rapid development of diagnostic kits is because companies invest in fostering an R&D environment based on ICT such as big data and AI, which allowed the use of research resources available on global online platforms of the WHO and other international organizations.

AI based patient examination: Korea’s AI-based medical image analysis specialists, Companies Vuno, Lunit and JLK Inspection, train their AI algorithms with large- scale chest X-ray photographic data, and detect abnormal findings such as pneumonia – a major symptom of COVID-19 patients – with high accuracy in just a few seconds.

Initiating AI devices at medical sites such as public health centers and local hospitals to relieve the burden of healthcare workers and improve the efficiency of diagnosis.

Walk-thru testing: K-Walk-Thru is a collective name for testing facilities adopted by Korea for the first time in
the world to quickly and safely collect samples for COVID-19. A walk-thru testing station allows quick collection of samples as subjects walk through the station with minimal contact.

Drive-thru Testing Centers

ICT & Tracing COVID-19

Self-diagnosis APP: The mobile application connects the user directly to the call center and social media channels in order to provide medical answers against suspected symptoms and allow early treatment.

Self-quarantine Safety APP

The Korean government has developed the Self-quarantine Safety Application to effectively support the monitoring of those under self-quarantine.
The application largely has 3 key functions: a self-diagnosis for the users to conduct and submit the results with the assigned government officers; a GPS-based location tracking to prevent possible violation of self-quarantine orders; and providing necessary information including self-quarantine guidelines and the contact info of the assigned government case officers.
Two types of the application were developed: one for the users under self-quarantine and the other for the assigned government case officers. Those under self-quarantine use the application twice a day to monitor oneself concentrating on four symptoms: fever, cough, sore throat, and respiratory difficulties. Once submitted, the self-diagnostic data will automatically be shared with an assigned case officer, who will be notified if the user does
not submit the self-diagnostic data or becomes symptomatic. The case officer is also notified when quarantine is disobeyed, in which cases, the case officer takes appropriate measures to have the subject return to the quarantine area.

Data Based Epidemiological Investigation

Epidemiological Investigation Support System: The COVID-19 Data Platform is designed to support epidemiological surveyors to quickly identify the transmission routes and places that the infected has visited by using real-time analysis of data such as GPS, mobile information and credit-card transaction history to conduct a spatial-temporal analysis. The platform supports health officials in confirming the interview results of patient transmission routes with the data on the system. Moreover, the big data analysis allows officials real-time data feeds on COVID-19 patients, including their whereabouts and the time spent on each location. From these multiple data points, the system can detect incidents of cluster infection and show the source of transmission.
Integrated Disease and Health Management System
Guide to record location history: (Jeju-do Island) voluntarily record their whereabouts on their smartphones using Google Timeline. By turning on ‘My Timeline’ function on Google Map application, the user whereabouts and routes are recorded automatically. If ever necessary, the data on Google Timeline can be captured as screenshots and shared with the epidemiological investigators, who will use the data to trace contacts and patient routes.

ICT facilitates COVID-19 TREATMENT

Research to facilitate drug repurposing
Developing medicine using AI
Developing medicine using platform

ICT FLATTENS the curve on COVID-19

Key information such as the accumulated count by region and number of tests performed is summarized and provided as visualization data on the main page of the website. Information on providing overseas travel history, finding COVID-19 screening centers, early-detecting of patients, using epidemiologic surveys and isolating the close contacts of a patient are also provided accordingly. Real-time data of publicly-distributed face masks is provided to people through mobile applications and web services, reducing confusion and inconvenience while raising distribution efficiency.
Release of COVID-19 open government data.
Information on providing overseas travel history, finding COVID-19 screening centers, early- detection of patients, using epidemiologic surveys and isolating the close contacts of a patient are also provided accordingly.
Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service(HIRA)

Publicly Distributed Mask Information Service

Policy-making using big data

Online sales of agricultural products

Response to Telecom Scams

Innovative Enterprise: A comprehensive situation map marking patient routes, screening centers, COVID-19
safe health clinics, mask vendors, early-voting locations, educational institutions, and places related to Shincheonji (A map of patient counts for cities and provinces, A graph of patient counts for cities and provinces, Graph of COVID-19 situation)

Clova CareCall Service

Source of information: A report prepared by joint collaboration of Korean government ministries and agency including Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korean Intellectual Property Office.

WHO’s polio surveillance team, other field staff join COVID19 fight
WHO Online Course! COVID-19: How to put on and remove personal protective equipment
WHO Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Situation dashboard
COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE)

April 17, 2020 0 comments

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WHO’s polio surveillance team, other field staff join COVID19 fight

by Public Health Update April 16, 2020

written by Public Health Update

WHO’s polio surveillance team, other field staff join COVID19 fight

15 April 2020, News release SEAR/PR/1729

New Delhi – Tapping into the best practices and key resources that helped India win its war against polio, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and World Health Organization today initiated a systematic engagement of WHO’s national polio surveillance network, and other field staff, for COVID19 response.

“Time and again the Government of India and WHO together have shown our ability, competence and prowess to the whole world. With our combined meticulous work, done with full sincerity and dedication, we were able to get rid of polio. Today I would like to remind you of your potential and ability, and the big things we can do together. All of you in the field – IDSP, state rapid response teams and WHO – are our ‘surveillance corona warriors’. With your joint efforts we can defeat the coronavirus and save lives,” said Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

The Minister, along with Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia, was addressing WHO and other field staff, simultaneously connected from over 1 000 sites all over the country – from capital cities to the remotest corners.

“The National Polio Surveillance Project (WHO-NPSP) played a critical role in strengthening surveillance for polio that generated useful, timely and accurate data to guide policies, strategies and interventions until transmission of the poliovirus was interrupted in the country,” Dr Khetrapal Singh said, adding that the other WHO field staff involved with elimination of TB and neglected tropical diseases and hypertension control initiative were also significant resources.

The Regional Director said, “it is now time to use all your experience, knowledge and skills, with the same rigor and discipline that you showed while monitoring polio activities, to support districts with surveillance, contact tracing and containment activities.” She urged the field staff to support the state and district governments.

In the fight against the COVID-19, we have entered a stage where surveillance is going to play a vital role in making future strategies for containment, she said.

The strengths of the NPSP team – surveillance, data management, monitoring and supervision, and responding to local situations and challenges – will be utilized to supplement efforts of NCDC, IDSP and ICMR to strengthen Covid-19 surveillance.

The NPSP team will also support in sharing information and best practices and help states and districts calibrate their response based on transmission scenarios and local capacities.

Most importantly, the WHO field staff will continue to support immunization and surveillance and elimination of TB and Neglected Tropical Diseases, the Regional Director said, adding, “disease outbreaks can negatively impact progress in a range of areas, from maternal and child mortality to vaccine-preventable diseases and other treatable conditions. India had been making stupendous progress in these areas and we cannot afford for India’s remarkable progress to be set back or reversed.”

Dr Khetrapal Singh said India has its unique challenges and also the capacity to overcome them, an example being elimination of polio in 2014. She complimented Dr Harsh Vardhan for introducing several of the key polio elimination initiatives as health minister of Delhi in 1994. Many of his initiatives were scaled up across the country and also adopted by other countries.

India’s WHO National Surveillance Project, renamed as National Public Health Surveillance Project post-polio elimination, has supported a number of public health emergency responses, including Ebola, with 50 of its surveillance medical officers deployed to Africa.

15 April 2020, News release SEAR/PR/1729

WHO Online Course! COVID-19: How to put on and remove personal protective equipment
COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE)
Statement by the Secretary-General on the World Health Organization
Nepal Government COVID19 DASHBOARD

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WHO Online Course! COVID-19: How to put on and remove personal protective equipment

by Public Health Update April 15, 2020

written by Public Health Update

WHO Online Course! COVID-19: How to put on and remove personal protective equipment

ENROLL NOW

Overview

This is a guide for healthcare workers involved in patient care activities in a healthcare setting. It aims to show the type of personal protective equipment or PPE needed to correctly protect oneself. Based on the current available evidence, the WHO recommended PPE for the care of COVID patients are CONTACT and DROPLET precautions, with the exception of aerosol producing procedures, which require CONTACT and AIRBORNE (hence, a respirator mask such as N95, FFP2, FFP3). Keeping in mind, PPE is part of a larger infection prevention and control bundle of measures and should be implemented as part of a multimodal strategy of management of COVID-19 patients. Only clinical staff who are trained and competent in the use of PPE should be allowed to enter the patient’s room.

Learning objectives

By the end of this course, participants should be able to:

demonstrate the correct way to put on PPE;
demonstrate the correct way to remove PPE; and
demonstrate the correct way to perform hand hygiene with an alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR), according to the WHO-recommended method.

Course duration: Approximately 15 minutes.

Certificate: No certificate available at this time.

Course contents

Module 1: How-to-guide for putting on and removing PPE according to droplet/contact precautions for COVID-19:
By the end of this module, participants should be able to demonstrate the correct way to put on personal protective equipment according to the WHO-recommended method for COVID-19 droplet/contact precautions.
Module 2: How-to-guide for putting on and removing PPE according to airborne/contact precautions for COVID-19 aerosol generating procedures:
By the end of this module, participants should be able to demonstrate the correct way to put on personal protective equipment according to the WHO-recommended method for COVID-19 airborne/contact precautions.

ENROLL NOW

Online course on ”Health Cluster Coordination”- OpenWHO
WHO launches “Open WHO” MOOCs – start to enjoy learning now !!
COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE)

April 15, 2020 0 comments

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Statement by the Secretary-General on the World Health Organization

by Public Health Update April 15, 2020

written by Public Health Update

Statement by the Secretary-General on the World Health Organization

14 April 2020

As I said on 8 April: “The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most dangerous challenges this world has faced in our lifetime. It is above all a human crisis with severe health and socio-economic consequences.

The World Health Organization, with thousands of its staff, is on the front lines, supporting Member States and their societies, especially the most vulnerable among them, with guidance, training, equipment and concrete life-saving services as they fight the virus.

It is my belief that the World Health Organization must be supported, as it is absolutely critical to the world’s efforts to win the war against COVID-19.

This virus is unprecedented in our lifetime and requires an unprecedented response. Obviously, in such conditions, it is possible that the same facts have had different readings by different entities. Once we have finally turned the page on this epidemic, there must be a time to look back fully to understand how such a disease emerged and spread its devastation so quickly across the globe, and how all those involved reacted to the crisis. The lessons learned will be essential to effectively address similar challenges, as they may arise in the future.

But now is not that time.”

As it is not that time, it is also not the time to reduce the resources for the operations of the World Health Organization or any other humanitarian organization in the fight against the virus.

As I have said before, now is the time for unity and for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences.

Statement by the Secretary-General on the World Health Organization

COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE)

WHO Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Situation dashboard

Research to Support COVID-19 Response In Humanitarian Settings

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Public statement for collaboration on COVID-19 vaccine development

by Public Health Update April 15, 2020

written by Public Health Update

Public statement for collaboration on COVID-19 vaccine development

13 April 2020

Statement

On 31 December 2019, WHO was informed of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. Chinese authorities identified the SARS-CoV-2 as the causative virus on 7 January 2020, and the disease was named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by WHO on 11 February 2020. As part of WHO’s response to the outbreak, a Research and Development (R&D) Blueprint has been activated to accelerate the development of diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics for this novel coronavirus.

Under WHO’s coordination, a group of experts with diverse backgrounds is working towards the development of vaccines against COVID-19.

The group makes a call to everyone to follow recommendations to prevent the transmission of the COVID-19 virus and protect the health of individuals. The group also thanks everyone for putting their trust in the scientific community.

Declaration

We are scientists, physicians, funders and manufacturers who have come together as part of an international collaboration, coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO), to help speed the availability of a vaccine against COVID-19. While a vaccine for general use takes time to develop, a vaccine may ultimately be instrumental in controlling this worldwide pandemic. In the interim, we applaud the implementation of community intervention measures that reduce spread of the virus and protect people, including vulnerable populations, and pledge to use the time gained by the widespread adoption of such measures to develop a vaccine as rapidly as possible. We will continue efforts to strengthen the unprecedented worldwide collaboration, cooperation and sharing of data already underway. We believe these efforts will help reduce inefficiencies and duplication of effort, and we will work tenaciously to increase the likelihood that one or more safe and effective vaccines will soon be made available to all.

Signatories in alphabetical order

Randy A. Albrecht, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA
Mohamad Assoum, Mercy Global Health
Luigi Aurisicchio, on behalf of Takis Biotech, Italy
Dan Barouch, Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, USA
Trevor Brasel, The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), USA
Jennifer L Bath, ImmunoPrecise Antibodies, Canada
Sina Bavari, Edge BioInnovation Consulting and Management, USA
Maria Elena Bottazzi, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA
Gerhard Beck, Austrian Medicines and Medical Devices, Austria
Tom Brady, Flow Pharma Inc, USA
Kate Broderick, Inovio, USA
Will Brown, Altimmune Inc, USA
Scot Bryson, Orbital Farm, Canada
Ricardo Carrión, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, USA
Miles Carroll, Public Health England, UK
Keith Chappell, University of Queensland, Australia
Daniel S. Chertow, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA
Sandra Cordo, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Wian de Jongh, on behalf of the Prevent n-CoV consortium (AdaptVac, ExpreS2ion, Copenhagen University, Leiden University Medical Centre, Wageningen University and Tubingen University)
Natalie Dean, University of Florida, USA
Rafael Delgado, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Spain
Dimiter Dimitrov
David A. Dodd, GeoVax, Inc., USA
Paul Duprex, Center for Vaccine Research, University of Pittsburgh, USA
Luis Enjuanes; Centro Nacional Biotecnología, Spain
Jeremy Farrar, Josie Golding, Charlie Weller, on behalf of Wellcome Trust, UK
Mark Feinberg, Swati Gupta and Ripley Ballou, on behalf of IAVI, USA
Antonella Folgori, on behalf of ReiThera, Italy
Thomas Friedrich, University of Wisconsin, School of Veterinary Medicine, USA
Simon Funnel, Public Health England, UK
Luc Gagnon, Nexelis, Canada
Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA
Vipin Garg, Altimmune Inc., USA
Volker Gerdts, on behalf of VIDO-Intervac, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Nora Gerhards, Wageningen Bioveterinary Research, The Netherlands
Christiane Gerke, Head of Vaccine Programs/Head of Vaccine Innovation Development, Institut Pasteur, France
Carlo Giaquinto, Department of Women and Child Health, University of Padova, Italy
Prakash Ghimire, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
Nikolaj Gilbert, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), USA
Sarah Gilbert, University of Oxford, UK
Marion F. Gruber, Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA
Farshad Guirakhoo, GeoVax Inc, USA
Bart L Haagmans, Erasmus Medical Center, The Netherlands
M. Elizabeth Halloran, Center for Inference and Dynamics of Infectious Diseases, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and University of Washington, USA
Scott Harris, Altimmune Inc, USA
Hideki Hasegawa, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan
Richard Hatchett, on behalf of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Norway
James Hayward, Applied DNA Sciences, USA
Sheri Ann Hild
Peter Hotez, Baylor College of Medicine, USA
Youngmee Jee, Seoul National University, College of Medicine, Republic of Korea
Charu Kaushic, Institute of Infection and Immunity, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CHIR), Government of Canada
Alyson A. Kelvin, Dalhousie University, Canada
Larry D. Kerr, Office of Global Affairs, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA
Bernard Kerscher, PEI, Germany
Jae-Ouk Kim, International Vaccine Institute, Republic of Korea
Seungtaek Kim, Institut Pasteur Korea, Republic of Korea
Jason Kindrachuk, University of Manitoba, Canada
Otfried Kistner, Senior Consultant and Independent Vaccine Expert, Austria
Gary Kobinger, Université Laval, Canada
Marion Koopmans, Viroscience Department, Erasmus Medical Centre, The Netherlands
Philip R. Krause, Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA
Greg Kulnis, Nexelis, Canada
Paul Henri Lambert, Centre of Vaccinology, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Nathalie Landry, Medicago Inc., Canada
Roger Le Grand, Inserm-CEA-Université Paris Saclay, France
Robin Levis, Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA
Mark G Lewis, Bioqual Inc, USA
Joshua Liang, Clover Biopharmaceuticals, China
Jinzhong Lin, on behalf of Fudan University, China
Ira Longini, University of Florida, USA
Shabir Madhi, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Jessica E. Manning, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA
Peter Marks, Director, on behalf of Food and Drug Administration/Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research
Hilary D. Marston, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA
Federico Martinón-Torres, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Sebastian Maurer-Stroh, on behalf of the GISAID Initiative
John W. Mellors, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, USA
Ali Mirazimi, Department of Laboratory medicin, Karolinska institutet, Sweden
Kayvon Modjarrad, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, USA
Stefan O. Mueller, CureVac, Germany
Vincent J. Munster, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA
César Muñoz-Fontela, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical Medicine, Germany
Aysegul Nalca, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), USA
José Manuel Ochoa, Altimmune Inc., USA
Dave O’Connor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
Lidia Oostvogels, CureVac, Germany
Nisreen M. A. Okba, Erasmus Medical Center, The Netherlands
L. Jean Patterson, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA
Joe Payne, on behalf of Arcturus Therapeutics
Jonathan Pearce, on behalf of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), UK
Stanley Perlman, University of Iowa, USA
Margaret Louise Pitt, WRAIR/ U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), USA
Anuradha Poonepalli, Health Products Regulation Group, Health Sciences Authority, Singapore
Dieter Pullirsch, Austrian Medicines and Medical Devices Agency, Austria
Damian Purcell, Doherty Institute, Australia
Chuan Qin, Institute of Laboratory Animal Sciences (ILAS), CAMS & PUMC, China
Angela Rasmussen, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, USA
Scott Roberts, Altimmune Inc., USA
Estefania Rodriguez, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Germany
Ted M Ross, Center for Vaccines and Immunology, University of Georgia, USA
Chad J Roy, Tulane National Primate Research Center and Tulane School of Medicine, USA
Reid Rubsamen, Flow Pharma Inc, USA
Anna Laura Salvati, Italy
Andrew Satz, EVQLV Inc, USA
Hanneke Schuitemaker and Johan Van Hoof, on behalf of Janssen Pharmaceuticals Companies of Johnson & Johnson, USA
Robert Shattock, Imperial College, UK
John Shriver, Sanofi, USA
Gale Smith, Novavax Inc. USA
Peter Smith, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK
Isabel Sola, Centro Nacional Biotecnología, Spain
James Southern, Adviser to South African Health Products Regulatory Authority
Jonathan M Spergel, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania, USA
Sybil Tasker, Codagenix Inc, USA
Chien-Te Kent Tseng, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response/Biodefense Advanced Research and Development Authority
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Jean Marie Vianney Habarugira, on behalf of the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP)
Veronika von Messling, on behalf of German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany
Tony T. Wang, Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA
Jeffrey Wolf, Heat Biologics Inc, USA
Ningshao Xia, Xiamen University of China, China
Yingjie Xu, on behalf of Shanghai Jiaotong University, China
Paul R Young, University of Queensland, Australia
Hang Yu, on behalf of Shanghai RNACure, China
Xuefeng Yu, CanSino Biologics, China
Tal Zaks, on behalf of Moderna, USA
Peter Daszak, President, EcoHealth Alliance, New York, USA

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WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 13 April 2020
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Two more patients diagnosed positive for COVID-19 in Nepal

by Public Health Update April 14, 2020

written by Public Health Update

Two more patients diagnosed positive for COVID-19 in Nepal

April 14, 2020

Two (58-year-old male and 81-year-old female) of three members of the same family in the Sun-city apartment in Kathmandu have diagnosed COVID-19 positive. Another patient has diagnosed negative in the first PCR test. The total number of cases in Nepal increased to 16 in Nepal, MoHP confirms.

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WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 13 April 2020
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Two more cases diagnosed positive for COVID-19 in Nepal
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WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 13 April 2020

by Public Health Update April 14, 2020

written by Public Health Update

WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 13 April 2020

13 April 2020

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening.

Some countries and communities have now endured several weeks of social and economic restrictions.

Some countries are considering when they can lift these restrictions; others are considering whether and when to introduce them.

In both cases, these decisions must be based first and foremost on protecting human health, and guided by what we know about the virus and how it behaves.

Since the beginning, this has been an area of intense focus for WHO.

As we have said many times before, this is a new virus, and the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus.

We’re all learning all the time and adjusting our strategy, based on the latest available evidence.

We can only say what we know, and we can only act on what we know.

Evidence from several countries is giving us a clearer picture about this virus, how it behaves, how to stop it and how to treat it.

We know that COVID-19 spreads fast, and we know that it is deadly – 10 times deadlier than the 2009 flu pandemic.

We know that the virus can spread more easily in crowded environments like nursing homes.

We know that early case-finding, testing, isolating caring for every case and tracing every contact is essential for stopping transmission.

We know that in some countries, cases are doubling every 3 to 4 days.

However, while COVID-19 accelerates very fast, it decelerates much more slowly.

In other words, the way down is much slower than the way up.

That means control measures must be lifted slowly, and with control. It cannot happen all at once.

Control measures can only be lifted if the right public health measures are in place, including significant capacity for contact tracing.

But while some countries are considering how to ease restrictions, others are considering whether to introduce them – especially many low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

In countries with large poor populations, the stay-at-home orders and other restrictions used in some high-income countries may not be practical.

Many poor people, migrants and refugees are already living in overcrowded conditions with few resources and little access to health care.

How do you survive a lockdown when you depend on your daily labor to eat? News reports from around the world describe how many people are in danger of being left without access to food.

Meanwhile, schools have closed for an estimated 1.4 billion children. This has halted their education, opened some to increased risk of abuse, and deprived many children of their primary source of food.

As I have said many times, physical distancing restrictions are only part of the equation, and there are many other basic public health measures that need to be put in place.

We also call on all countries to ensure that where stay-at-home measures are used, they must not be at the expense of human rights.

Each government must assess their situation, while protecting all their citizens, and especially the most vulnerable.

To support countries in making these decisions, WHO will tomorrow be publishing its updated strategic advice.

The new strategy summarizes what we’ve learned and charts the way forward. It includes six criteria for countries as they consider lifting restrictions:

First, that transmission is controlled;

Second, that health system capacities are in place to detect, test, isolate and treat every case and trace every contact;

Third, that outbreak risks are minimized in special settings like health facilities and nursing homes;

Fourth, that preventive measures are in place in workplaces, schools and other places where it’s essential for people to go;

Fifth, that importation risks can be managed;

And sixth, that communities are fully educated, engaged and empowered to adjust to the “new norm”.

Every country should be implementing a comprehensive set of measures to slow down transmission and save lives, with the aim of reaching a steady state of low-level or no transmission.

Countries must strike a balance between measures that address the mortality caused by COVID-19, and by other diseases due to overwhelmed health systems, as well as the social economic impacts.

As the pandemic has spread, its public health and socioeconomic impacts have been profound, and have disproportionately affected the vulnerable. Many populations have already experienced a lack of access to routine, essential health services.

Our global connectedness means the risk of re-introduction and resurgence of the disease will continue.

Ultimately, the development and delivery of a safe and effective vaccine will be needed to fully interrupt transmission.

Finally, I would like to thank the United Kingdom for its generous contribution of £200 million to the global response to COVID-19.

We greatly appreciate this demonstration of global solidarity.

In an editorial last week, development ministers from the UK, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Germany, Norway and Sweden calling on all countries to join this common endeavour.

They said that tackling this disease together is our only option.

I couldn’t agree more. The way forward is solidarity: solidarity at the national level, and solidarity at the global level.

Thank you.

WHO

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WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 13 April 2020

The new strategy summarizes what we’ve learned and charts the way forward. It includes six criteria for countries as they consider lifting restrictions:

PUBLIC HEALTH INITIATIVE