COVID-19: ‘Phased process’ for lifting restrictions is key, WHO chief urges G20

Author:
UN News Centre

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) told a virtual meeting of the G20 leading global economies on Sunday that although it was encouraging for some countries to be planning to ease lockdowns against COVID-19, “it is critical that these measures are a phased process”.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated the UN’s appreciation committing to further strengthen WHO’s mandate in coordinating the international fight, noting that “all of your countries have been affected, and you are all at different stages of the response.”

With some countries such as Austria, Germany and Italy, beginning to announce an easing of restrictions in line with encouraging data such as falling caseloads and hospital deaths, Tedros said it was key to see lifting so-called lockdown restrictions as “not the end of the epidemic in any country; it’s just the beginning of the next phase.

“It’s vital in this next phase that countries educate, engage and empower their people to prevent and respond rapidly to any resurgence”, he said adding that it was essential to ensure they have capacity to “detect, test, isolate and care for every case, and trace every contact, and to ensure their health systems have the capacity to absorb any increase in cases.”

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