The World Health Organisation / Europe on steps to ease lockdown
The WHO/Europe noted: “The transition out of lockdown is set to be a complex and uncertain phase. Challenges and circumstances vary from country to country and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. It is vital that countries clearly communicate this to the public to build trust and ensure that people observe restrictions specific to their situation.”
A critical component of the measures that need to be in place is an ability to track/trace/quarantine those suspected of having acquired or having already acquired COVID-19.
The WHO/Europe lists 6 essential criteria to begin easing physical distancing measures, one of which is that countries must ensure: that public health and health system capacities are in place to identify, isolate, test, trace contacts and quarantine them;”
The advice from the WHO, as seen from the linked video below, since early March has emphasised the importance of test/track/quarantine.
The PDA note that countries that have been able to rigorously and successfully implement the track/trace/quarantine measures have been able to ease lockdown measures considerably faster than those that have not.
The WHO/Europe guide on measures for easing lockdown can be found here.
The WHO video on test-test-test and isolate can be found here.
The Guardian report on the successful countries adopting track/test/isolate can be found here.
|