Apps cannot replace 'boots-on-the-ground' in virus fight - WHO
07 May, 2020
The World Health Organization says that contact-tracing apps and other technology cannot replace old-fashioned "boots-on-the-ground" surveillance measures as much countries get started easing lockdowns imposed to curb the brand new coronavirus.
"We have become, very keen to stress that IT tools usually do not replace the essential public health workforce that will be had a need to trace, test, isolate and quarantine," the WHO's top emergencies expert, Mike Ryan, told journalists at an online briefing in Geneva.
He stressed the need for "shoe-leather epidemiology" and praised the success of places like South Korea and Singapore because of their strategy.
Many countries are easing lockdown restrictions to resurrect economies and contact-tracing software are expected to play a role in assisting identify new cases and contain clusters.
In the same briefing, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged the world to unite to defeat the new coronavirus.
"This virus will be around for years and we must get together to develop and share the various tools to defeat it," he said.
"We will prevail through national unity and global solidarity," he added, praising pledges of $8 billion from world leaders for the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
The Geneva-based body will launch this week its updated strategic preparedness and response plan, that will provide an update of its funding needs to be able to support the international and national plans to fight the virus, Tedros said.
Ryan said the WHO welcomed recent clinical trial data for Gilead Sciences Inc's remdesivir drug, saying "there are signals of hope there for the potential utilization of the drug" in COVID-19 patients.
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