The COVID-19 pandemic is "far from over," experts at the World Health Organization have warned, cautioning against complacency as global cases are still rising and a second wave entirely possible. The ominous announcement comes as the WHO amends its guidance on masks, setting out several important factors wearers should bear in mind as they protect themselves and others in daily life.
The World Health Organization now recommends wearing a face mask to help avoid the spread of COVID-19, updating its guidance after acknowledging new research during the coronavirus pandemic. The WHO had previously stopped short of recommending face masks, cautioning that the evidence for their efficacy was still insufficient.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is facing a new Ebola outbreak as the previous one enters its final phase, the World Health Organization has revealed. The new outbreak comes amid multiple other outbreaks in the region, including ones involving COVID-19 and the measles. A total of six new Ebola cases have been identified; four of those patients have died.
The World Health Organization is preparing a COVID-19 app that will check symptoms and advise people whether they're likely to have contracted coronavirus, with officials weighing whether to integrate Apple and Google's Bluetooth contact tracing system. Several countries and organizations have launched coronavirus diagnostic tools, designed to better signpost people to their local healthcare providers if it's likely that they could require a COVID-19 test.
The World Health Organization is advising against the concept of 'immunity passports,' which would be certificates proving that someone has contracted and recovered from the novel coronavirus. The idea behind the passports is that someone who contracted the virus will have antibodies, potentially making them immune to the virus and therefore risk-free. WHO warns there's no evidence to support this idea.
An alert from the World Health Organization this week did a bit of a mythbuster on the subject of alcohol during our current global pandemic. Misinformation spread over social networks and person-to-person in text chains over the past few weeks suggested high-strength alcohol could "kill the COVID-19 virus." According to the World Health Organization: "It does not."
WhatsApp has become a hive of misinformation related to the novel coronavirus, the COVID-19 disease it causes, and the state of outbreaks around the world. The World Health Organization is combating this fake news by launching its own chatbot called WHO Health Alert to spread accurate, timely information. The chatbot will provide direct information on the latest case numbers, myths related to the disease, and more.
Coronavirus is officially a pandemic, the World Health Organization has confirmed today, as COVID-19 cases exceed 118,000 across 114 countries around the world. At the same time, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the WHO, expressed concerns that the situation was not being taken seriously by every country.
Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19, 2019-nCoV) was given a risk upgrade from the World Health Organization on Friday, February 28, 2020. "The continued increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, and the number of affected countries over the last few days, are clearly of concern," said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "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."
In its latest briefing on the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that at this time, COVID-19 cases do not indicate that the virus has reached pandemic status. However, the agency acknowledges that there is the potential for the disease to become a pandemic, something that would be based on a variety of criteria, including things like severity and its overall societal impact.
Efforts to model the spread of coronavirus have begun to pinpoint a likely fatality rate, the World Health Organization has announced, as well as casting doubt onto the effectiveness of travel bans for preventing COVID-19 cases. The latest information from the WHO highlights best-practice for avoiding infection, but also highlights an unexpected hurdle as large sections of China remain on lockdown.
As coronavirus continues to spread, the World Health Organization has officially given it a name: COVID-19. Previously referred to as the "2019 novel coronavirus," this new name should not only help scientists and media organizations refer to this specific outbreak, but it also lays down a model for future coronavirus outbreaks that may occur.