The primary focus of the plan continues to be prevention, preparedness and treatment of the the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Central to the plan are the following overall objectives:
To prevent further transmission of COVID-19 in the oPt;
To provide adequate care for patients aff...ected by COVID-19 and to support their families and close contacts; and
To mitigate the worst effects of the pandemic.
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On 31st December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) China Country Office was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology (unknown cause) detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. On 7th January 2020, Chinese authorities identified a new strain of Coronavirus as the causative age...nt for the disease. The virus has been renamed by WHO as SARS-CoV-2 and the disease caused by it as COVID-19. The disease since its first detection in China has now spread to over 200 countries/territories, with reports of local transmission happening in more than 160 of these countries/territories. As per WHO (as of 1st April, 2020), there has been a total of 823626 confirmed cases and 40598 deaths due to COVID-19 worldwide.
In India, as on 2nd April, 2020, 1965 confirmed cases (including 51 foreign nationals) and 50 deaths reported from 29 States/UTs. Large number of cases has been reported from Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.
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Infection Prevention and Control Programmes
January 2020
Contact tracing may help limit COVID-19 transmission when the first cases are identified within a country but can be very resource intensive.
It is likely not to be feasible when community transmission is occurring and cases outside known transmission chains increase greatly.
The purpose of this document is to provide guidance on the cleaning and disinfection of environmental surfaces in the context of COVID-19. This guidance is intended for health care professionals, public health professionals and health authorities that are developing and implementing policies and sta...ndard operating procedures (SOP) on the cleaning and disinfection of environmental surfaces in the context of COVID-19.
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Immunizations are an essential health service that protect susceptible individuals from vaccine-preventable diseases (VPD).2 By providing timely immunizations, individuals and communities remain protected and the likelihood of a VPD outbreak decreases
This publication is available in Arabic, Chines...e, English, French, Russian and Spanish
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This guidance note identifies strategic action for policy-makers and managers at the national, subnational and facility level to address these different challenges.
As information about COVID-19 is rapidly evolving, it can be challenging to navigate and synthesize all of the information. The purpose of this document is to provide a synthesized, indexed reference of accurate, standardized COVID-19 information from trustworthy sources. Information is presented in... simple, clear language to support the development of messages and materials needed for social and behavior change interventions.
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PERC produces regional and member state situation analyses, updated regularly.
While much progress has been achieved over the past year, the Region of the Americas has stubbornly remained the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. PAHO is launching its 2021 COVID-19 Response Strategy and Donor Appeal to continue supporting Latin American and Caribbean countries and territories i...n their fight against COVID-19. This document outlines PAHO’s regional strategy for the year 2021 to sustain and scale-up the response to COVID‑19 pandemic in the Americas, suppress the community transmission of the virus and mitigate the longer-term health impact of the pandemic.
US$ 239 million is needed to support critical response efforts in the Americas between 1 January and 31 December 2021
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May 2020 International Journal of Infectious Diseases 96 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.05.003
The WHO Guidance for Conducting a Country COVID-19 Intra-Action Review (IAR) was developed to guide countries to conduct periodic review(s) of their national and subnational COVID-19 response, so countries do not miss critical opportunities for learning and improvement to better respond to the COVID...-19 outbreak in their countries, especially as the possibility of a protracted pandemic becomes increasingly probable. The IAR is a country-led facilitated process conducted during the COVID-19 outbreak in-country, bringing together a small group of COVID-19 responders with knowledge of the public health response pillars under review. Although IARs can be conducted online or face-to-face, the online format is recommended, especially if community transmission remains high in the country. The IAR will identify practical areas for immediate remediation and sustained improvement of the ongoing response.
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WHO published the first COVID-19 Strategic Response and Preparedness Plan (SPRP) on 3 February, 2020. This report highlights the main points of progress that were made up to 30 June 2020 under the three objectives outlined in the SPRP: scaling up international coordination and support; scaling up co...untry preparedness and response by pillar; and accelerating research and innovation. The report also discusses some of the key challenges faced so far, and provides an update on the resource requirements for the next phase of WHO’s response as part of an unprecedented whole-of-UN approach to the pandemic.
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Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) provides a vast amount of information and the highest possible resolution for pathogen subtyping. The application of WGS for global surveillance can provide information on the early emergence and spread of AMR and further inform timely policy development on AMR control.... Sequencing data emanating from AMR surveillance may provide key information to guide the development of rapid diagnostic tools for better and more rapid characterization of AMR, and thus complement phenotypic methods. This document addresses the applications of WGS for AMR surveillance, including the benefits and limitations of current WGS technologies
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This catalogue serves the purpose of connecting stakeholders from the
energy and health sectors with solutions providers, to help meet the
energy needs of healthcare facilities in response to COVID-19 and
beyond. The solutions provided herein represent a sample of a larger
group of solution prov...iders who can contribute to addressing this
challenge
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