#covid19 presser @WHO starts with @DrTedros talking about #COVID19 pledging event hosted by @EU_Commission today. “Leaders from 40 countries all over the world came together” and pledged 7,4 billion Euros "for research and development for vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics"
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission “Countries came together not only to pledge their financial support, but also to pledge their commitment to ensuring all people can access life-saving tools for #COVID19”, says @DrTedros. "This was a powerful and inspiring demonstration of global solidarity"
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission “The true measure of success will not only be how fast we can develop safe and effective tools – it will be how equally we can distribute them”, says @DrTedros. "None of us can accept a world in which some people are protected while others are not."
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission Talks about #handhygiene : "The simple act of cleaning hands can be the difference between life and death and remains one of the most important public health measures for protecting individuals, families and communities against #covid19 and many other diseases”.
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission Millions of people cannot practice #handhygiene. “Less than two-thirds of health care facilities are equipped with hand hygiene stations, and 3 billion people lack soap and water at home”, says @drtedros. "This is an old problem that requires new and vastly increased attention."
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission Points out that tomorrow is not just #handhygiene Day but also International Day of the Midwife: "Research shows that interventions delivered by midwives can avert over 80% of all maternal deaths, stillbirths, and neonatal deaths.”
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission .@DrTedros calls on all people to "stop what they’re doing at noon tomorrow to clap for nurses and midwives, and to thank them for their role in delivering safe and effective care.”
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission As #lockdown measures to fight #covid19 are relaxed in some countries, "basic measures such as cleaning hands and physical distancing cannot be relaxed”, says @drtedros. And, here we go, the commitment to "find, isolate, test and care for every case, and trace every contact”.
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission Q about “mass gatherings” and what WHO guidance is. @mvankerkhove says: “It depends”, not a one-size-fits-all answer, she says. Need to look at size, setting etc.
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission @mvankerkhove Q: too early to reopen movie theatres (planned in France apparently)? @DrMikeRyan says “mass gatherings” classically large sporting events or religious gatherings. But anywhere where people meet in the presence of the virus and cannot uphold #physicaldistancing there is a risk.
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission @mvankerkhove @DrMikeRyan "@WHO cannot prescribe to individual countries what exactly is to be done in every context”, says @DrMikeRyan but there are different ways to minimise risk in different settings like increased spacing etc.
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission @mvankerkhove @DrMikeRyan Q about good surveillance/contact tracing. @drmikeryan says countries that have done well first of all “have more boots on the ground”. Finding sick people to treat them and trace their contacts is “a human process and it needs a human face”, he says.
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission @mvankerkhove @DrMikeRyan Apps can obviously help, he says. "They are an additional measure that will potentially enhance the efficiency of the contact tracing process.” Should not be seen “as a replacement for the basic human work force, the army we need to go out there and find the cases."
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission @mvankerkhove @DrMikeRyan Also important that such tools are really only used for this one goal and not something else. And says again: "We are very very keen to stress that IT tools do not replace the basic public health workforce that is going to be needed to test, trace, isolate and quarantine".
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission @mvankerkhove @DrMikeRyan Q from Brazil about inequitable access to testing. @DrMikeRyan says testing should not be the purview of the wealthy. If anything, testing should be concentrated in areas where there are vulnerable populations, overcrowding, etc.
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission @mvankerkhove @DrMikeRyan Points out that testing has two aims: 1. give people with symptoms the chance to be treated. 2. find out where the virus is.
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission @mvankerkhove @DrMikeRyan Q about that Taiwan email from 31st Dec again. We’ve had this question now several times, people. It has been answered. I’ll just refer to previous threads.
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission @mvankerkhove @DrMikeRyan Short version: Did Taiwan send an email on 31st Dec? Yes. Was it a warning: "That email was not a warning”, says Steven Solomon, legal officer at WHO. Taiwan was asking for more information about the cluster reported in Chinese media. (Solomon reading out the entire email today.)
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission @mvankerkhove @DrMikeRyan Q about remdesivir:
“We welcome the recent data from the randomised clinical trial that has been done in the US. There is a signal of hope there”, says @DrMikeRyan.
“We welcome the recent data from the randomised clinical trial that has been done in the US. There is a signal of hope there”, says @DrMikeRyan.
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission @mvankerkhove @DrMikeRyan Q: Has US discussed or shared evidence for lab origin of virus with WHO? Will WHO investigate?
"We have not received any data or specific evidence from the US”, says @DrMikeRyan. “From our perspective this remains speculative.” Says up to US to decide when/whether to share it.
"We have not received any data or specific evidence from the US”, says @DrMikeRyan. “From our perspective this remains speculative.” Says up to US to decide when/whether to share it.
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission @mvankerkhove @DrMikeRyan Q about role of traditional medicine in fighting #covid19. (@WHO just sent out a statement: WHO supports scientifically-proven traditional medicine
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afro.who.int/news/who-suppo…)
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission @mvankerkhove @DrMikeRyan Answer from @drmikeryan: "Traditional medicine has a value, both clinically and socially and culturally”, he says. But they should be tested in the same way as any other drug that is going to be used against #covid19, he says.
@WHO @DrTedros @EU_Commission @mvankerkhove @DrMikeRyan “Particulary in the context of Africa, we want to make sure that any material going into the body of an African gets exactly the same testing, and safety and efficacy trialling that it would in any other part of the world”, says @DrMikeRyan. (And it’s a wrap)
