The World Health Organisation, WHO, has said over 100 countries have joined the Solidarity Trial, as it was still leading research and development efforts with 1,200 COVID-19 patients.

WHO’s Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, said this during a briefing on Monday.

He equally stressed that easing restrictions does not mean the end of COVID-19, neither do lockdowns.

The WHO boss said countries must now ensure they can detect, test, isolate and care for every case, and trace every contact.

According to Dr. Ghebreyesus, “we are also continuing to lead R&D (research and development) efforts.

“So far, more than 100 countries have joined the Solidarity Trial to evaluate therapeutics for COVID-19, and 1,200 patients have been randomised from the first five countries.

“This week, we expect that more than 600 hospitals will be ready to start enrolling patients.

The faster we recruit patients, the faster we will get results.”

Media briefing on #COVID19 with @DrTedros. https://t.co/rrXFYFvH6I

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) April 20, 2020

He added that “through April and May, we intend to ship almost 180 million surgical masks, 54 million N95 facemasks and three million protective goggles to countries that need them most.

“Solidarity flights continue to ship lifesaving medical supplies across Africa to protect health workers, who are on the frontlines in the effort to save lives and slow the pandemic.

“We want to re-emphasise that easing restrictions is not the end of the epidemic in any country. Ending the epidemic will require a sustained effort on the part of individuals, communities and governments to continue suppressing and controlling the virus.

“So-called lockdowns can help to take the heat out of a country’s epidemic, but they cannot end it alone.

“Countries must now ensure they can detect, test, isolate and care for every case, and trace every contact.

“We welcome the accelerated development and validation of tests to detect COVID-9 antibodies— helping us to understand the extent of infection in the population.

“WHO is providing technical, scientific and heavy dollar sign support for the roll-out of sero-epidemiologic surveys across the world.

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“While antibody tests are important for knowing who has been infected, tests that find the virus are a core tool for active case finding, diagnosis, isolation and treatment.

“One of WHO’s priorities is to work with partners to increase the production and equitable distribution of diagnostics to the countries that need them most.”

Ghebreyesus expressed gratitude to “the many musicians, comedians and humanitarians, who made Saturday’s One World, TogetherAtHome concert an enormous success.”

Vanguard