NIHRD Indonesia Webinar

Series #2

WHO Perspectives on Strategies for “New Normal” during COVID-19 Pandemic

Dr. Roderico Ofrin, Regional Emergency Director, WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia

16 July 2020 • Photo: ScienceTech

 Presentation Outline
• Situation overview
• Context
• Adjusting PHSM in COVID-19 pandemic
• Transition to “new normal”
• The way forward

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Situation overview

Global COVID-19 cases, by date of report and

WHO region
Total cases 1 % chan
Total cases week ago cases
Globally 12 964 809 11 500 302 13%
AMR 6 780 428 5 915 551 15%
EUR 2 946 104 2 809 848 5%
EMR 1 302 297 1187 620 10%
SEAR 1196 651 974 389 23%
AFR 492 660 382 563 29%
WPR 245 928 229 590 7%
United States of America 3 286 063 2 877 238 14%
Brazil 1 864 681 1 603 055 16%
India 906 752 719 665 26%
Russian Federation 739 947 694 230 7%
Peru 326 326 302 718 8%
Chile 317 657 298 557 6%
Mexico 299 750 256 848 17%
The United Kingdom 290 137 285 772 2%
South Africa 287 796 205 721 40%
Iran (Islamic Republic of) 259 652 *Data as243 051
of 13 July 2020 7%

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Context

• The rapid evolution of COVID-19 in the Region over the last six months has
overwhelmed systems across sectors

• COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the gaps and how quickly resource-constrained

settings can overburden existing capacities (i.e. epidemiology, points-of-entry,
biosafety and biosecurity, national laboratory capacity, IHR coordination, risk
communication & community engagement and advocacy)

• Other sectors beyond health also had to mount a response to optimize

socioeconomic activities that were disrupted and engage in sustaining day-to-day
affairs during the enforcement of strict public health and social measures (PHSM),
towards transitioning to the “new normal”

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Adjusting PHSM in COVID-19 Pandemic

• In principle and when feasible, measures should be lifted in a controlled, slow,

and step-wise manner

• Risk assessment is very important

• Protection of vulnerable populations should be central in the decision to

maintain or lift a measure

• Some measures (e.g. business closures) could be lifted first where the population
or individual density is lower (rural versus urban, small/medium versus large
cities, small stores versus shopping malls), and could be lifted for part of the
workforce before allowing 100% of the workforce to return to a business

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Adjusting PHSM in COVID-19 Pandemic: Risk assessment

• The decision on adjusting public health and social measures (PHSM) should be
based on a risk assessment

• Some indicators for risk assessment:

o Epidemiological factors: incidence of confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases; rate of
hospitalizations and ICU admissions; number of deaths; percent positive among people
tested
o Health care capacities: health system (hospital and non-hospital) functions and capacity
(admissions and discharges), health care workers, ICU and non-ICU bed capacity, triage at
health care facilities, stocks of personal protective equipment, etc
o Public health capacities: rate of identification and testing of new suspected cases, isolation
of new confirmed cases, identification and quarantine of contacts, number of public health
rapid response teams to investigate suspect cases and clusters
o Availability of effective pharmaceutical interventions: Currently there are no COVID-19
specific therapeutics or vaccines.

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Adjusting PHSM in COVID-19 Pandemic: Implementation

To minimize the resurgence in COVID-19 cases, there are points to be considered:

o COVID-19 transmission is controlled to a level of sporadic cases and clusters

of cases, all from known contacts or importations
o Sufficient public health workforce and health system capacities are in place
to enable the major shift from detecting and treating mainly serious cases to
detecting and isolating all cases
o Outbreak risks in high-vulnerability settings are minimized, which requires
all major drivers or amplifiers of COVID-19 transmission to have been
identified

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Adjusting PHSM in COVID-19 Pandemic: Implementation (cont’d)

To minimize the resurgence in COVID-19 cases, there are points to be considered

(cont’d):

o Preventive measures are established in workplaces, including the appropriate directives and
capacities to promote and enable standard COVID-19 prevention
o Manage the risk of exporting and importing cases from communities with high risks of
transmission. This can be done through an analysis of the likely origin and routes of
importations
o Communities are fully engaged and understand that the transition away from large-scale
movement restrictions and PHSM, from detecting and treating serious cases to detecting and
isolating all cases, is a ‘new normal’ in which prevention measures would be maintained, and
that all people have key roles in preventing a resurgence in case numbers.

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Transition to “New Normal”

• WHO SEARO has developed a Regional Risk Communication Strategy for the “new
normal” situation that met the needs of the Member States

• Interagency Asia-Pacific Risk Communication and Community Engagement

Working Group was set up to develop guidelines specific to vulnerable
populations (WHO is a partner in the Working Group’s Asia-Pacific-wide
perception survey)

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The Way Forward

• Systematic and regular preparedness for outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging

diseases including pandemics is critical to minimize socioeconomic implications

• Interagency Asia-Pacific Risk Communication and Community Engagement

Working Group was set up to develop guidelines specific to vulnerable
populations (WHO is a partner in the Working Group’s Asia-Pacific-wide
perception survey)

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The Way Forward

• Re-look into the scope and implementation of the International Health

Regulations (2005) ratified by all Member States is a vital need for greater
transparency and information sharing on risks, hazards and threats affecting all
people irrespective of national, international and inter-continental boundaries

• Strengthening IHR core capacities remains a desirable priority goal for all Member
States, along with an emphasis on after-action reviews and retrieving the lessons
learned from the COVID-19 pandemic

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The Way Forward

• As this pandemic demonstrated, it is a critical need to have the fundamentals in

place :
o robust planning;
o establishment of systems for all aspects of preparedness and response (i.e.
national laboratory capacity, managing high threat pathogens and etc.);
o trained human resources for health; and investments in health infrastructure
such as critical care

• In-country mechanisms and systems for regular risk identification, mapping,

assessment and risk reduction is core to such situations

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The Way Forward

• Leverage country capacities in the area of:

o Short and medium term planning for contact tracing, quarantine and
laboratory testing

o Infrastructure for critical care at different levels

o Local manufacturing of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics;

o Local production of personal protective equipment (PPE);

o Local production of medical devices and equipment

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The Way Forward

• Business continuity plans for the health and non-heath sectors need major
attention and action

• Mitigation of socioeconomic impacts of any future events related any other novel
and/or high threat pathogens

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Remember…..

“New Normal” does not mean that we are going back to the “business
as usual”.

Strengthen the fundamental systems for public health

We have to do what works - keep physical distance, washing our hands

more frequently, and cover nose and mouth where appropriate

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Terima
kasih

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