Patients with suspected coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can infect others at any time, including during transfer and transport. COVID-19 is a new infectious disease that requires contact and droplet precautions; lapses in infection prevention and control (IPC) can easily happen at vulnerable mom...ents such as during transfer. This guide aims to identify key steps to prepare the community and health system response to ensure IPC is maintained during transfer and transport. This guide is intended for personnel involved in coordinating and performing transfer and transport of patients with suspected COVID-19 requiring hospital care.
more
This document provides a summary of infection control recommendations when providing direct and non-direct care to patients with suspected or confirmed Filovirus haemorrhagic fever (HF), including Ebola or Marburg haemorrhagic fevers. These recommendations are interim and will be updated when additi...onal information becomes available.
more
COVID-19 outbreak is associated with the generation of many types of infectious wastes, including infected masks, gloves and other protective equipment, together with a higher volume of general waste of the same nature.
These guidelines provide recommendations for the non-pharmacological aspects of infection prevention and control for acute respiratory diseases (ARD) in health care. Administrative and infection controls, including early detection, isolation and reporting, and establishment of infection control infr...astructure, are key components for containment and mitigation of the impact of pathogens that may constitute a major public health threat. In these guidelines, the options of using natural ventilation and/or exhaust fan assisted ventilation in health-care facilities (HCF) are considered.
more
Ebola disease and Marburg disease outbreaks continue to occur in Africa, with increased frequency. In addition to resulting in high mortality and morbidity, the outbreaks generate fear and mistrust about the response activities within the communities affected.
Infection prevention and control (IP...C) is a key pillar in the outbreak response; adherence to IPC practices can prevent and control transmission of infections to health and care workers, patients and their family members.
During the 2014-2016 West African Ebola disease outbreak, there was an urgent need for rapid IPC guidance to help support ministries of health, health-care providers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In response, WHO produced several documents related to the outbreak based on expert opinion, including IPC-specific documents and documents on clinical management that also referenced key IPC principles and practices. Since that time, many practices in the field have become institutionalized.
more
The ICAT is a simple and practical approach for assessing the adequacy of existing infection prevention and control practices and provides specific recommendations for improving practices and monitoring their effectiveness over time
Nosocomial or health-facility-acquired infections are a serious issue, representing one of the most significant causes of morbidity and mortality in healthcare systems and consuming many scarce resources, especially in developing countries. Although much has been done, particularly in the hospital s...etting, to reduce the risk of these infections, the problem persists and demands innovative and cost-efficient solutions.
Although the care provided in most primary health care facilities is predominantly ambulatory with few or no inpatient beds, infection prevention is still important to minimize or eliminate the risks of facility-acquired infections and assure quality patient care.
Health facilities and hospitals should have written infection control procedures and guidelines in place and should also be monitoring that these procedures are adhered to in both inpatient and ambulatory care settings.
more
Infectious diseases are constantly in transition. New diseases develop, known dis-eases become widespread or reemerge, and occasionally a disease is eradicated.Infectious diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, and cholera are significant causes ofillness and death in many parts of the world. Health car...e personnel are on thefront lines, helping to protect their clients from infectious diseases and treatingthem when infections occur. During the course of their work, health care person-nel perform clinical procedures or other activities that can expose both them andtheir clients to potentially infectious microorganisms. Many of their clients aresick and thus may be more susceptible to infections or may have infections thatcan be transmitted to others. Fortunately, all staff working at health care facilities can perform simple proce-dures to minimize risk—to themselves and clients—and reduce the spread ofinfections. These practices can be integrated at minimal cost into the routineworkday at clinics and hospitals around the world. This reference booklet isspecifically designed for use at all levels of the health care system, from thelargest hospitals to the smallest dispensaries or health posts, in settings whereresources are scarce. This booklet, which was first published in 1999, has now been updated. Whilemost practices remain the same, there have been a few important changes—forexample, in recommendations related to hand hygiene and standard precautions.Nonetheless, this booklet continues to present practical recommendations forsimple and relatively low-cost procedures that can be implemented anywhere,with basic supplies and little to no high-technology equipment.
more
The WHO continuously reviews available data on SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. For this version, the global epidemiological
situation of the COVID-19 pandemic as of 21 January 2022 – at a time when the Omicron VOC had been identified in 171
countries across all six WHO Regions and was rapidly re...placing Delta worldwide – was considered Omicron has a substantial growth advantage, higher secondary attack rates and a higher observed reproduction number than Delta.
There is now significant evidence that immune evasion contributes to the rapid spread of Omicron. Other factors may be a shorter
serial interval (by about 0.8 to 1.2 days compared to Delta) and potential increased intrinsic transmission fitness . There is
growing evidence that with Omicron, there is lower vaccine effectiveness (VE) against infection and symptomatic disease soon after vaccination compared to Delta. There is also evidence of accelerated waning of VE over time of the primary series against infection and symptomatic disease for the studied vaccines. Further studies are required to better understand the drivers of transmission and declining incidence in various settings. These factors include the intrinsic transmission fitness properties of the virus, degree of immune evasion, vaccination coverage and level of vaccine-derived and post-infection immunity, levels of social mixing and degree of application of public health and social measures (PHSM).
more
The purpose of this document is to present and promote the minimum requirements for IPC programmes at the national and health care facility level, identified by expert consensus according to available evidence and in the context of the WHO core components.
The minimum requirements are defined as: I...PC standards that should be in place at the national and facility level to provide minimum protection and safety to patients, HCWs and visitors, based on the WHO core components for IPC programmes.
more
22 April 2022, This document provides updated interim recommendations on the use of masks by health workers providing care to patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. This update is prompted by new evidence around mask use and COVID-19 transmission, as well as the emergence of variants of conc...ern including Omicron. Masks continue to be a critical tool to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These interim guidelines supersede the recommendations provided in the WHO recommendations on mask use by health workers, in light of the Omicron variant of concern published on 22 December 2022.
WHO continually evaluates the emerging evidence and will review these interim recommendations within two months and issue new guidance as needed.
more
This interim guidance is for LTCF managers and corresponding infection prevention and control (IPC) focal persons in LTCF and updates the guidance published in March 2020. The objective of this document is to provide guidance on IPC in LTCFs in the context of COVID-19 to 1) prevent COVID-19-virus fr...om entering the facility and spreading within the facility, and 2) to support safe conditions for visiting through the rigorous application of IPC procedures for the residents’ well-being. WHO will update these recommendations as new information becomes available.
Availabel in English, French, Russian and Spanish
more
This report offers a summary of the provided support and recommendations on priority activities for IPC improvement at national and facility levels. The COVID-19 pandemic spotlighted areas for improvement in the IPC programme at national and facility levels. Improvements in the IPC programme were ac...hieved during the acute phase of the pandemic response. WHO will continue to support the Ministry Health of Ukraine and the Public Health Centre, as well as health facility managers and health-care providers, on the next steps to ensure the sustainability of progress achieved and to further enhance IPC in health-care settings.
more
This document aims to provide guidance to healthcare facilities and healthcare providers in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) and the United Kingdom (UK) on preparedness and infection prevention and control (IPC) measures for the management of possible and confirmed cases of COVID-1...9 in healthcare settings, including long-term care facilities (LTCFs). In addition, this document addresses the management of clinical diagnostic specimens at laboratories in the EU/EEA. This is the sixth update of the ECDC guidance on ‘Infection prevention and control and preparedness for COVID-19 in healthcare settings’, and replaces the document dated 6 October 2020.
more
A module from the suite of health service capacity assessments in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, Interim Guidance 20 October 2020.
This self-assessment tool is designed for acute health-care facilities (i.e. tertiary and secondary) but can be modified for the use in long-term care facilities..., to help identify, prioritize and address the gaps in infection prevention and control (IPC) capacity in managing their response to COVID-19. The tool should be used by IPC professionals and/or those responsible for disaster planning or outbreak management in the facility (such as the response to the COVID-19 outbreak) at the start of the improvement process. A sample workplan template is provided to address gaps identified and record required actions.
more
In the strategies for effective infection prevention and control (IPC), what does triage entail at hospitals?
Triage includes screening at the entrance, identification of cases and isolation if necessary. There should be a triage (screening) area where visitors to the hospital are interviewed using... standard questionnaires to identify symptoms, along with temperature checks and documentation of contacts. Individuals who meet the case definition for COVID-19 should be isolated immediately while arrangement is being made for swab (sample) collection from the patient. (See the WHO guidance on triage).
more
Infection control is the forth edition from Clinical Pocket Reference for Nurses.
This is a case-ascertained prospective investigation of all identified health care contacts working in a health care facility in which a laboratory confirmed 2019-nCoV infected patient (see 2.2 Study population) receives care. Note that this study can be done in health care facilities at all 3 level...s of a health system – not just in hospitals. It is intended to provide epidemiological and serologic information which will inform the identification of risk factors 2019-nCoV infection among health care workers.
There are three primary objectives of this investigation among health care workers in a health care setting where a 2019-nCoV infected patient is being cared for:
To better understand the extent of human-to-human transmission among health care workers, by estimating the secondary infection rate1 for health care worker contacts at an individual level.
To characterize the range of clinical presentation of infection and the risk factors for infection among health care workers.
To evaluate effectiveness of infection prevention and control measures among health care workers
To evaluate effectiveness of infection prevention and control programmes at health facility and national level
more