New Delhi (NVI): The coronavirus can be transmitted in areas with hot and humid climates too, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said today, seeking to bust the myth that the pandemic would end when the summer heat arrives.
“From the evidence so far, the #coronavirus can be transmitted in ALL AREAS, including areas with hot & humid weather. Adopt protective measures if you live in or travel to an area reporting,” a tweet by the WHO South-East Asia Region said.
This puts to rest the myth among some people that the summer heat will kill the virus and the pandemic will end.
Meanwhile, the global health body called on member states in the South-East Asia Region to urgently scale-up aggressive measures to combat COVID-19.
“The situation is evolving rapidly. We need to immediately scale up all efforts to prevent the virus from infecting more people,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region.
Eight of the 11 countries of WHO South-East Asia Region have confirmed cases of COVID-19. While Thailand has 177 confirmed cases, Indonesia 134, India 125, Sri Lanka 19, Maldives 13, Bangladesh 5, Nepal and Bhutan one each. These numbers are increasing quickly.
“More clusters of virus transmission are being confirmed. While this is an indication of an alert and effective surveillance, it also puts the spotlight on the need for more aggressive and whole of society efforts to prevent further spread of COVID-19. We clearly need to do more, and urgently,” she said.
Looking at the numbers, some countries are clearly heading towards community transmission of COVID-19, Singh said, adding that this should best be prevented.
Of critical importance are continued efforts to detect, test, treat, isolate and trace contacts.
Simple public health measures are critical, she said, adding practicing hand hygiene, covering your cough and sneeze, and practicing social distancing cannot be emphasized enough.
“This alone has the potential to substantially reduce transmission,” the WHO Regional Director said.
However, if community transmission does set in, countries would need to gear their responses to slow down transmission, as well as end outbreaks.
Emergency mechanism would then need to be further scaled up. A network of health facilities and hospitals for triage and surge would need to be activated to avoid overcrowding, she said.
Self-initiated isolation by people with mild diseases would continue to be the most important community intervention to reduce the burden on health system and reduce virus transmission.
Testing of all suspected cases, symptomatic contacts of probable and confirmed cases, would still be needed.
“We need to be geared to respond to the evolving situation with the aim to stop transmission of COVID-19 at the earliest to minimize the impact of the virus that has gripped over 150 countries in a short span of time, causing substantial loss to health of people, societies, countries and economies. Urgent and aggressive measures are the need of the hour. We need to act now,” the Regional Director said.
