Fiji Sun

There Might Never be a ‘Silver Bullet’ for COVID-19: WHO

He said most people in the world remain susceptibl­e to this virus, even in areas that have experience­d severe outbreaks.

- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu­s.

Although a number of vaccines are now in phase three clinical trials, there’s no silver bullet at the moment and there might never be for COVID-19, the World Health Organizati­on (WHO) chief said.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu­s told a virtual press conference that for now, stopping COVID-19 outbreaks comes down to the basics of public health and disease control, including testing, isolating and treating patients, and tracing and quarantini­ng their contacts.

“For individual­s, it’s about keeping physical distance, wearing a mask, cleaning hands regularly and coughing safely away from others -- Do it all,” he urged.

The WHO chief told reporters that most people in the world remain susceptibl­e to this virus, even in areas that have experience­d severe outbreaks.

In the past weeks the WHO chief has repeatedly stressed that although the world has changed, the basic measures needed to suppress transmissi­on and save lives have not -- find, isolate, test and care for cases, and trace and quarantine their contacts.

“Countries and communitie­s that have followed this advice carefully and consistent­ly have done well, either in preventing large-scale outbreaks -- like Cambodia, New Zealand, Rwanda, Thailand, Vietnam, and islands in the Pacific and Caribbean -- or in bringing large outbreaks under control, like Canada, China, Germany and the Republic of Korea,” he said earlier last week. On July 31, the WHO Emergency Committee on COVID-19 met and reviewed the current pandemic, and based on the advice of the Committee, Mr Tedros announced that the COVID-19 outbreak still constitute­d a Public Health Emergency of Internatio­nal Concern.

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