Operationalization of the Global Response Strategy in the WHO European Region
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© Times of Malta COVID-19 Operationalization of the Global Response Strategy in the WHO European Region September 2020 ©WHO Acknowledgements The Incident Management Support Team (IMST) in the WHO Regional Office for Europe developed this document under the supervision of Dr Dorit Nitzan, Regional Emergency Director. The document is the result of the contributions from across all the divisions in the Regional Office for Europe, working together in support of the Member States response to COVID-19. © World Health Organization 2020 Some rights reserved. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo). Under the terms of this licence, you may copy, redistribute and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, provided the work is appropriately cited, as indicated below. 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Designed by: www.freightdesign.co.uk Document number: WHO/EURO:2020-1073-408190-55167 COVID-19 Operationalization of the Global Response Strategy in the WHO European Region COVID-19 Strategy for the WHO European Region 5 About this document 6 Current situation and key insights in the WHO European Region 7 European regional strategy to respond to COVID-19 9 Working together as one 10 National strategies to respond to COVID-19 11 National operational plans for responses 11 Engage and mobilize communities to limit exposure 12 Find, isolate and test cases; track and quarantine contacts to control transmission 13 Provide clinical care and maintain essential health services to reduce mortality 14 Adapt strategies to national and local contexts based on risk, capacity and vulnerability 15 Prevent and suppress community transmission 15 Transition and maintain a steady state of low-level or no transmission 16 Adapt to low-capacity settings 17 Humanitarian settings, vulnerable and high-risk groups 18 International community’s response to COVID-19 20 Coordinate support for countries and monitor country preparedness and response 20 Understand the regional epidemiology, develop regional analytics and conduct 20 ongoing risk assessments Coordinate supply chain management across the Region 21 Accelerate research, innovation and knowledge sharing 22 Strengthen preparedness for future emergencies 23 Annex 25 Annex 1: Adaptation of response measures based on scale of transmission 25 Annex 2: Adaptation of response measures based on health system capacity, 30 resourcing and context 6 COVID-19 Strategy for the WHO European Region COVID-19 Strategy for the WHO European Region 7 About this document © WHO The COVID-19 pandemic has been exacting an Every country needs to implement a enormous toll on individuals, families, communities comprehensive set of measures according to their and societies across the globe. Since mid-February, own capacity and contextual specificities in order COVID-19 has quickly spread across Europe and has to slow down transmission and to reduce the profoundly impacted the societal and economic morbidity and mortality associated with COVID-19, situation, even in countries with the most robust while maintaining comprehensive health care and sophisticated health systems in the WHO services along the continuum of care and life- European. course, public health services and maintaining civil liberties as much as possible, with the ultimate aim This document outlines the WHO European of reaching and/or maintaining a no transmission Regional strategy to respond to COVID-19 and its status. Practical guidance on adaptations of consequences, based on WHO’s global strategy response measures, based on transmission update for COVID-191, covering the period February scenarios and health system capacities, is provided -December 2020. The estimated funding needs of in Annex 1 and 2 of this document. the WHO European Region, for this period, amount to US$ 175 million.2 This strategic document is relevant to the diverse contexts that exist across the WHO European Region, and to countries implementing a wide range of national and subnational responses. The strategy is flexible and adaptable to national and subnational contexts and guides countries in rapidly bringing COVID-19 cases under control, and in preparing for a phased transition from a widespread transmission to a steady state of low-level or no transmission. This strategy considers the needs of the WHO European Region (Member States and Secretariat) to prepare for a new operating norm in which the COVID-19 virus is taken into account in decision- making across the whole of society and the whole of government until such a time that transmission of the virus can be suppressed nationally and globally. It highlights the coordinated support that is required from the international community and © WHO/Tunc Ozceber complements other plans (including the Global Humanitarian Response Plan (HPRP)).3 1 WHO. COVID-19 strategy update, 14 April 2020. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2020. (https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/covid-19-strategy-update-13-april-2020, accessed 11 May 2020). 2 COVID-19 WHO Appeal, updated 24 May 2020, Geneva World Health Organization, 2020 (https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/covid-19-who-appeal, accessed 14 July 2020) 3 The HPRP addresses COVID-19 response in humanitarian and fragile settings. For the Global Humanitarian Response Plan, see: UN. Global humanitarian response plan COVID-19. New York: United Nations; 2020. (https://www.unocha.org/sites/unocha/files/Global-Humanitarian-Response-Plan-COVID-19.pdf, accessed 11 May 2020). 6 COVID-19 Strategy for the WHO European Region COVID-19 Strategy for the WHO European Region 7 Current situation and key insights in the WHO European Region © WHO COVID-19 is a new disease and, although many Since late February 2020, the pandemic has gaps in knowledge remain, much has been evolved extremely rapidly, first in the WHO learned about its characteristics and impact on European Region, then in the Regions of the health during the response. The COVID-19 virus Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean and spreads rapidly and can quickly overwhelm South-East Asia, with most countries in the health systems while also placing societies under European Region reporting community significant strain. Governments, WHO and partners transmission. have been working urgently to save lives through the development of public health and clinical Based on the available information,6 (11 March countermeasures.4 At present, there are no specific 2020 to 26 June 2020) in the WHO European treatments for COVID-19, though early evidence Region: indicates that dexamethasone may reduce mortality in severely ill patients. • 21% of all reported infections were in health care workers. According to data from countries affected early in the pandemic, about 40% of cases experience mild • 89% of deaths were in people aged 65 years disease, 40% have moderate disease, 15% of cases and older. suffer from severe disease, and 5% of cases require • 95% of deaths were in people who had at least intensive and critical care.