Address at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council, European Council

Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe

6 March 2020

Thank you Mr President, Commissioners. It is a great honour for WHO to be invited to this meeting and a clear indication of our precious collaboration with, and contribution to, the European Union (EU). First of all, I would like to extend my most sincere empathy to the people of Europe who are concerned about their health and that of their families. As an infectious disease specialist, I certainly empathize, while at the same time it is important that we all keep common sense and avoid panic.

As of this morning, there are 98 023 cases of COVID-19 globally from 87 countries with 3380 deaths – more than 90% still being recorded in China. These figures coincide very well with those we heard from the Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). However, since last week, the number of daily reported cases outside China has exceeded the cases reported from China. Eighty percent of those cases are from four countries – the Republic of Korea, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Italy and Japan.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the transmission pattern is different in each and every country. One size does not fit all, and that is why WHO is advising countries on actions they can take for three scenarios; the three C’s: first case, first cluster, first evidence of community transmission.

The basic actions in each scenario are the same, but the emphasis changes depending on which scenario a country is in. WHO believes that containment should be the priority in all settings, while countries are preparing for sustained community transmission. That is why we are suggesting a comprehensive approach. The measures taken by countries now to prepare for possible scenarios will determine the course of the outbreak.

I request that you all take early and appropriate measures to protect health workers, engage communities to protect people most at risk, and support countries that are most vulnerable while containing epidemics in countries with the capacity to do so. The WHO vision for Europe on health is called the European Programme of Work – United Action for Better Health, and it has two goals: 1) leaving no one behind; and 2) supporting the leadership of the health authorities. And that is exactly what we are doing right now for our Member States.

On the first one – leaving no one behind – the WHO Regional Office for Europe will continue to bridge between countries in the larger WHO European Region, which includes the European Union but also 26 countries in west, central and eastern Europe and the central Asian countries which have long borders with China and which I visited recently. This week, we had the briefing for all ambassadors of the Region in Copenhagen, and three consecutive ministerial briefings with the 53 Member States through video conference per subregion, to better tailor our support.

In the WHO European Region we are working together with each and every country, while prioritizing the most vulnerable through our WHO country offices. We have deployed experts to support countries in the EU, central Asia, the Balkans and south Caucasus to support national readiness. Here

I would like to express sincere appreciation for the leadership of the Italian Minister of Health, Minister Speranza, with whom we agreed, as a result of a joint WHO–ECDC mission, to deploy senior advisers in Rome, at the Ministry of Health, and to expand field emergency capacity to the Italian regions based at the WHO Venice Office. For this I would also like to express appreciation to Dr Mantoan, the General Director for Health of the Veneto Region, for his leadership. Currently, response teams are being assembled for deployment to Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Montenegro to work with national authorities to provide support in critical areas – like risk communication, surveillance, hospital preparedness, clinical management, and infection prevention and control.

I would like to underline that we stand ready to support every country to develop their national plans. It is in crucial times like this that we have to demonstrate what the motto means – leaving no one behind. We must protect human rights and the fight against stigma and discrimination. This outbreak does not distinguish between races or nationalities, nor should we in our response. This disease affects people in vulnerable situations the most – such as the elderly, who should be at the heart of our protection efforts. But it also means not leaving vulnerable groups behind, like migrants and refugees, who may become victims of a range of issues including fake news and respiratory infections, while facing serious barriers to universal health coverage.

On the second goal – supporting the leadership of health authorities – this includes providing the best evidence available to prepare for and manage the outbreak as we learn more every day. But this also means supporting you in addressing the root causes of the erosion of trust of citizens towards health providers and health authorities, and this includes working with the media against the infodemic.

In this regard, again, I would like to commend the honourable Minister of Health of Italy for convening a press conference with the European Commissioner, ECDC and WHO in Rome last week, to bring common sense into the COVID-19 debate. I salute the Italian Minister for this, and all Member States, for the transparent information sharing which is critical for us to better understand the nature of the outbreak and better support the response. In fact, now Italy is the platform of European know-how on COVID-19.

Ladies and gentlemen, we do understand that this is a virus with a serious impact on public health, the economy and social and political issues. I would like to remind you that WHO continues to advise against the application of travel or trade restrictions to countries experiencing outbreaks. This may divert resources from other interventions and have negative social and economic effects on the affected countries. This is the time for solidarity, and this is the time to work together in collaboration to fight against this deadly disease.

We do not act alone, our excellent collaboration with the European Commission and EU institutions –especially ECDC – ensures coherent and fully aligned joint support to you, the EU Member States. I want to thank the EU experts who are taking an active role here. In particular, I would like to express my appreciation to the Commissioner, Dr Stella Kyriakides, for the daily exchanges on strategy and operations. This is certainly a whole new era of European Commission–WHO collaboration for the benefit of you, the Member States. I would also like to thank you for your financial support for WHO’s strategic preparedness and response plan, as well as the WHO contingency fund.

We are working globally with governments, industry and the pandemic supply chain network to boost protection and secure allocations for critically affected and at-risk countries. I would like to draw your attention to recent WHO guidance calling for the rational and appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in health-care settings. And I am calling for your support again to join our efforts in developing incentives for industry to ramp up production. This includes easing restrictions on the export and distribution of PPE and other medical supplies.

We are all in this together. Ultimately this is a big stress test. It is a stress test of the European value of solidarity, but also our individual, psychological resilience. How we pass this stress test will define European leadership today. You can count on WHO. Thank you.