The new coronavirus outbreak “is a controllable pandemic” if countries step up measures to tackle it, the head of the World Health Organisation said on Thursday. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged on Wednesday that the global outbreak of the new coronavirus could now be considered a pandemic — a disease actively spreading globally.
But he told diplomats in Geneva that describing the outbreakas a pandemic should not mean that countries give up the fight to stop itspreading further.
“This is a controllable pandemic,” he said,according to a statement of his remarks.
“We are deeply concerned that some countries are notapproaching this threat with the level of political commitment needed tocontrol it. The idea that countries should shift from containment to mitigationis wrong and dangerous,” he stressed. “To save lives we must reducetransmission,” Tedros insisted.
“That means finding and isolating as many cases aspossible and quarantining their closest contacts,” he said, urging statesto test every suspected case of COVID-19 in a bid to slow transmission.
“Even if you cannot stop transmission, you can slow itdown and protect health facilities, old age homes and other vital areas — butonly if you test all suspected cases.” Tedros said countries needed tofind the right balance between protecting health and preventing social andeconomic disruption.
However, “containment” needed to remain thecentral pillar in any plan to tackle the spread, he said. “You can’t fighta virus if you don’t know where it is. That means robust surveillance to find,isolate, test and treat every case, to break the chains of transmission.”
Tedros urged unaffected countries to prepare their healthfacilities, and pressed all states to innovate and share any new ways toprevent infections and minimise the impact of the outbreak.Morethan USD 440 million (390 million euros) has been pledged towards the WHO’sstrategic preparedness and response plan, he added.