There might never be a 'silver bullet' for Covid-19: WHO chief

<p class="p1">The World Health Organization (WHO) chief today said although a number of vaccines are now in phase three clinical trials, there is no "silver bullet" at the moment, and there might never be for Covid-19.</p>
<p class="p1">WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference that for now, stopping Covid-19 outbreaks comes down to the basics of public health and disease control, including testing, isolating and treating patients, and tracing and quarantining their contacts, Xinhua reported.</p>
<p class="p1">"For individuals, it's about keeping physical distance, wearing a mask, cleaning hands regularly and coughing safely away from others — Do it all," he urged.</p>
<p class="p1">The WHO chief told reporters that most people in the world remain susceptible to the virus, even in areas that have experienced severe outbreaks.</p>
<p class="p1">In the past weeks, the WHO chief has repeatedly stressed that although the world has changed, the basic measures needed to suppress transmission and save lives have not — find, isolate, test and care for cases, and trace and quarantine their contacts.</p>
<p class="p1">"Countries and communities that have followed this advice carefully and consistently have done well, either in preventing large-scale outbreaks — like Cambodia, New Zealand, Rwanda, Thailand, Vietnam, and islands in the Pacific and Caribbean — or in bringing large outbreaks under control, like Canada, China, Germany and South Korea," he had said.</p>
<p class="p1">On July 31, the WHO Emergency Committee on Covid-19 met and reviewed the current pandemic, and based on the advice of the Committee, Tedros announced that the Covid-19 outbreak still constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.</p>.