WHO upgrades COVID-19 global risk to 'very high'

The World Health Organization (WHO) has upgraded its risk assessment of COVID-19 to ‘very high’ at a global level.

In an address to media on Feb. 28, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that “our epidemiologists have been monitoring these developments continuously, and we have now increased our assessment of the risk of spread and the risk of impact of COVID-19 to very high at a global level.”

While there are several “linked epidemics” of COVID-19 in several countries, most cases can still be traced to known contacts or clusters of cases, Dr. Ghebreyesus said.

“We do not see evidence as yet that the virus is spreading freely in communities. As long as that’s the case, we still have a chance of containing this virus, if robust action is taken to detect cases early, isolate and care for patients and trace contacts…. The key to containing this virus is to break the chains of transmission.”

A new report by the WHO-China Joint Mission includes 22 recommendations and “calls for all countries to educate their populations, to expand surveillance, to find, isolate and care for every case, to trace every contact, and to take an all-of-government and all-of-society approach.”

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