Statement at ministerial briefings on COVID-19

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

2–3 March 2020, Copenhagen, Denmark

Honourable ministers and distinguished delegates, good afternoon, good evening from Copenhagen and thank you for joining us. Whilst I am happy you have been able to connect today, I wish the circumstances were different. I appreciate that this is a time of pressure and concern, but I personally wanted to check in with you, and hear how we can support you best. I would also like the team here to brief you on the situation as it stands right now.

First of all, I want to extend my most sincere empathy to all those communities and families affected by the COVID-19 outbreak – those in your countries and further afield. To those who remain in hospitals in all your countries, I hope every day brings them closer to a full and speedy recovery.

While it seems, thankfully, that most people with COVID-19 have mild illness, all of us have loved ones or know people in our home communities who are elderly or who are living with an existing health condition that may place them at higher risk. We can all take extra steps to keep those people healthy.

As you are aware, a new WHO Rapid Risk Assessment from 28 February, has raised WHO’s assessment of the level of risk to “very high” for China, the Region, and the globe. This is WHO’s highest level of risk and means that every country has to be absolutely ready; every country should have detection and surveillance in place; and every country should prepare their health workforce and health facilities to see cases.

There are three priorities for country readiness: 1) protecting health workers; 2) engaging communities to protect people who are most at risk; and 3) protecting countries that are the most vulnerable, by doing our utmost to contain outbreaks in countries with the capacity to do so.

So far, Italy has recorded the sharpest increase in cases in the WHO European Region, with evidence of local transmission.

WHO’s work

For the past two months, WHO has been working around the clock to coordinate the response to the outbreak. As you will hear from my colleague shortly, working as one, WHO’s command and control system has been activated across all levels of the Organization. In the European Region, we provide both diverse and tailored support to the 53 Member States, as needed. I am immensely proud of the group of people that make up our incident management team and the staff that support them.

Through our 30 country offices, we are working shoulder to shoulder with the ministries of health, across governments and with the whole of society. We have deployed experts to support countries in central Asia, the Balkans and south Caucasus. We are all together in this. Since last week, a team of experts from WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has been on the ground, working together with Italian health specialists to better understand the evolution of the outbreak and identify the most adequate strategy to control and manage it.

Over the last two weeks, I have visited Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Serbia and North Macedonia. Last Wednesday, I joined a press conference in Rome with the Minister of Health of Italy, the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety and the Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Together, the ministers and I assessed the situation and their specific needs. I took the opportunity to stress that all countries should have their Country Preparedness and Response Plans in place. These plans will help us to match the international resources available with needs and priorities on the ground. National resources should also be mobilized. I count on your support to convey these messages to your governments.

The current challenges posed by the COVID-19 outbreak also underscore the importance of the International Health Regulations (IHR). The IHR are the mechanism for the global community to prevent, detect, prepare for and respond to health emergencies. COVID-19 is a test of solidarity that we simply cannot afford to fail. It is crucial that we all abide by the IHR principles of international cooperation, transparency and solidarity.

Coordination

To minimize the broader impact of the outbreak in societies and economies, we are counting on the support of all partners, including United Nations agencies. To facilitate this coordination, a United Nations Crisis Management Team was established on 11 February at the global level. At the country level, our WHO representatives are working hand in hand with resident coordinators and the whole United Nations country team to mitigate, to the extent possible, the negative social, economic and development consequences of the outbreak.

To raise funds for this emergency, WHO together with partners has launched the Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan that goes beyond the boundaries of the health sector. We welcome your governments reaching out to us to assist however they can with the preparedness and response efforts. The resources we manage to raise, both human and financial, are being prioritized in those countries where the needs and risks are higher, and where health systems and preparedness capacities are lower. I want to particularly thank the European Union and all governments that have already provided their financial contributions to this global effort. I guarantee we are making sure your contributions are being used efficiently and effectively.

In times of crisis, health professionals perform miracles. They are the heroes of this response. Health workers are one of the fundamental pillars of our health systems and of the core capacities outlined in the International Health Regulations. It is in moments like this when we have to remind ourselves of the fundamental need to invest in the health workforce, which is a critical resource to keep our countries and people protected.

The right to health for all

It is also timely to remind ourselves of the need to protect human rights and fight against stigmatization and discrimination. It is at crucial times like this when we have to demonstrate what mottos such as “leaving no one behind” truly mean. This outbreak does not distinguish between races or nationalities; nor should we in our response. This disease affects people in situations of vulnerability the most, such as our elderly; they should be at the heart of our protection efforts.

Additionally, it is no single country’s fault and we must not assign blame. We are all in this together.

Dear ministers and delegates, my number one priority is to support you and your countries in these challenging times. Leaving no one behind and strengthening the leadership capacities of national health authorities are fundamental to my vision for health across the European Region – “United action for better health”.

We must remember that this is a new virus from which we are all learning every hour, every day. Thank you very much for joining us today.

You can rest assured that we are, and will continue to do everything we possibly can to support you and work with you in order to respond to this outbreak.