Director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has warned that lifting lockdown restrictions for COVID-19 is not the end of the pandemic.
Addressing a virtual meeting of G-20 health ministers, the WHO boss said it would signal the beginning of a new phase.
Tedros said WHO was encouraged that several G-20 countries are now starting to plan how to ease social restrictions, but added that “it was critical that these measures are a phased process”.
“Lifting so-called lockdown restrictions is 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, to ensure they have the 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,” he said.
While expressing WHO’s concern that the virus now appears to be gathering pace in countries that lack the capacity of many G-20 countries to respond to it, he said urgent support is needed, not only to support countries to respond to COVID-19, but to ensure other essential health services continue.
Commenting on efforts the organisation is making to reduce the burden of the virus, Tedros said one of the biggest challenges they face in Africa and other countries is the critical shortage of supplies, and the ability to deliver them because of weak supply chains.
However, WHO is working with International Chamber of Commerce and the B20 group of business leaders from G-20 countries to increase the production and equitable distribution of these life-saving tools, he said.
He added that they are working with the World Food Programme and other partners to distribute personal protective equipment to countries all over the world, through the United Nations Supply Chain Task Force.
He urged each of the G-20 countries to continue to fight the pandemic with determination, guided by science and evidence, and encouraged the G-20 countries to continue to support the global response to COVID-19.
In addition, the WHO chief called on all G-20 countries to work together to increase the production and equitable distribution of essential supplies, and to remove trade barriers that put health workers and their patients at risk.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us of a simple truth: we are one humanity. We share the same planet. We share the same hopes and dreams. We share the same destiny,” Tedros said.
Desmond Okon
