COVID-19: WHO lists conditions for lift of lockdown

The World Health Organization (WHO) says countries that want to lift the restrictions order which was enforced due to the coronavirus pandemic must meet a set of conditions in order to prevent another surge of infections amid the outbreak

This was disclosed by the Director-General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on Thursday, April 16, 2020, during his weekly address to Geneva-based diplomats.

Tedros, in his statement, said, ‘’Easing social and economic curbs must be done extremely carefully. If done too quickly, we risk a resurgence that could be even worse than our present situation,” he warned.

According to a monitored report, some of the conditions given by the WHO Chief include:

That government must ensure that the spread of the novel coronavirus is under control. According to new WHO guidelines, this means that health authorities must know the origin of every single case and cluster of infections.

National health systems must also be able to find, test, isolate and treat every new case, and all recent social contacts of every infected person must be tracked down.

Thirdly, countries that want to ease their restrictions must minimize infection risks in hot spot settings such as hospitals and nursing homes.

In the fourth condition, Tedros said that preventive measures must be in place in workplaces, schools and other essential locations. This includes social distancing, hygiene etiquette and, possibly, temperature measurements, according to the new WHO guidelines.

Countries must also manage the risk of importing new cases from abroad, by detecting infected travellers, and by quarantining those who arrive from hot spot countries.

The WHO Chief said it is important that communities are fully educated, engaged and empowered to adjust to the ‘new norm’” of behaving in ways that prevent new infections.

Tedros, who had earlier admitted that the WHO is still studying the coronavirus disease which is novel, enjoined countries to share information with the rest of the world about what works for them.