WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, urged countries in the region to lift public health and social measures (so called lockdowns) in a graded manner and that Local epidemiology should guide focused action in ‘new normal’ COVID-19 world.

Lesotho reported its first case of COVID-19. WHO has published an interim guidance document on Laboratory biosafety fortesting of clinical specimens of patients that meet the case definition of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

WHO has published an annex to the guidance on considerations on adjusting public health and social measures (PHSM). The new annex provides a pragmatic decision process to help countries through adapting PHSM based on epidemiological and public health criteria.   

The Director-General Dr. Tedros in his media briefing yesterday, urged a slow, steady, lifting of public health and social measures (so called lockdowns), which is key to stimulating economies, while also keeping a vigilant eye on the virus so that control measures can be quickly implemented if an upswing in cases is identified. 

WHO has published new guidance on Surveillance strategies for COVID-19 human infection. The document provides an overview of surveillance strategies that Member States should consider as part of comprehensive national surveillance for COVID-19. It also emphasise the need to adapt and reinforce existing national systems where appropriate and to scale-up surveillance capacities as needed.