The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on Monday that given the recent rising of the COVID-19 cases in Beijing, the organization is collaborating closely with China to control the epidemic.
The WHO insists that Beijing is a large city and a very dynamic and connected city, so controlling the epidemic situation is a must. According to Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, China needs a “comprehensive set of measures”.
The UN health body is working closely with authorities in China to understand what exactly the risks are here and will issue any guidance internationally accordingly.
As Ryan said on Monday in a press conference in Geneva, Beijing reported 27 new confirmed domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases and three new asymptomatic cases on Monday. The municipal health commission said Tuesday they are tracking the situation very closely.
Meanwhile, the WHO office in Beijing with “a number of epidemiologists permanently embedded” works on a day-to-day basis with colleagues in China, Xinhua reports.
Commenting on the direct cooperation with colleagues at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Ryan said that it “will be important to understand the origin and spread of this disease.”
“We have offered further assistance and further support as it is needed, and we may be supplementing our country office team with more expertise, and in the coming days as the investigation develops,” Ryan added.
Beijing authorities control the COVID-19 situation
Taking into account that COVID-19 infection is primarily spread from human to human by the respiratory routes and the contamination by humans of that environment, the control for epidemic pace is a must. As the WHO official added, this disease “can breach the animal-human species barrier.
Beijing has strengthened community-level disease prevention and control in response to the resurgence of domestically transmitted coronavirus cases.
Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, said in some respects, any country can be the next epicentre and that all countries should be ready to cope with a possible resurgence.
“It’s very important that countries have the systems in place to be able to quickly identify any suspect cases, and test those cases, and follow the same pattern of events that need to happen … so that any resurgence can be picked up quickly, and can be stamped out,” she said.
