A Joint Statement on Tourism and COVID-19 : UNWTO and WHO Call for Responsibility and Coordination
International cooperation is vital for ensuring the sector can effectively contribute to the containment of COVID-19
AS the current outbreak of the Coronavirus Dis-ease (COVID-19) continues to develop, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) are committed to working together in guiding the travel and tourism sectors’ response to COVID-19.
On 30 January 2020, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID-19 to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and issued a set of Temporary Recommendations. WHO did not recommend any travel or trade restriction based on the current information available. WHO is working closely with global experts, governments and partners to rapidly expand scientific knowledge on this new virus, to track the spread and virulence of the virus, and to provide advice to countries and the global community on measures to protect health and prevent the spread of this outbreak.
Cooperation is key
The tourism sector is fully committed to putting people and their well-being first. International cooperation is vital for ensuring the sector can effectively contribute to the containment of COVID-19. UNWTO and WHO are working in close consultation and with other partners to assist States in ensuring that health measures be implemented in ways that minimize unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade.
Tourism’s response needs to be measured and consistent, proportionate to the public health threat and based on local risk assessment, involving every part of the tourism value chain – public bodies, private companies and tourists, in line with WHO’s overall guidance and recommendations.
UNWTO and WHO stand ready to work closely with all those communities and countries affected by the current health emergency, to build for a better and more resilient future. Travel restrictions going beyond these may cause unnecessary interference with international traffic, including negative repercussions on the tourism sector.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS Medical science to fight epidemic
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Friday called for greater break-throughs in the development of efficient detection reagents, effective drugs and vaccines to fight the novel coronavirus disease (COV-ID-19).
Li, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the leading group of the CPC Central Committee on the novel coronavirus prevention and control, made the remarks during an inspection tour to a national emergency platform for COVID-19 drugs and medical equipment.
Acknowledging China's development in nucleic acid detection reagents and other testing reagents, Li said that the reagents have played a key role in epidemic control, and efforts should be made to develop reagents with shorter detection time, more accurate results and simpler operation.
Coronavirus arrives in megacity Lagos
Residents of Nigeria's economic hub Lagos scrambled for hygiene products Friday, after the chaotic megacity of 20 million announced the first confirmed case of new coronavirus in sub-Saharan Africa.
Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said in a statement overnight that the infected person was an Italian citizen who flew in from Milan, at the heart of Europe's largest outbreak, earlier this week.
"The patient is clinically stable, with no serious symptoms," Ehanire said, adding that he was being treated at a hospital for infectious diseases in Lagos.
The low number of cases so far across Africa, which has close economic ties with China, the epi-centre of the deadly outbreak, has puzzled health specialists.
Prior to the case in Nigeria, there had been just two cases on the continent -- in Egypt and Algeria.
British passenger dies
A British man who was on board a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship quarantined near Tokyo has died, Japan's health ministry said Friday.
The unidentified man's death is the latest linked to infections on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, where more than 700 other people tested positive for the illness.
The ministry confirmed the man's nationality and death on Friday without giving further details. He is the first Briton to die from the illness and joins five Japanese nationals who also succumbed to the pathogen.
The death comes as the governor of Japan's rural northern island of Hokkaido urged people to stay at home this weekend in a desperate effort to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
Iran reports 8 new coronavirus deaths
Iran on Friday reported eight new deaths from coronavirus, raising its toll to 34, as the number of infections jumped again in the Islamic republic, one of the worst-hit countries.
Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said 143 cases had been detected over the past 24 hours, increasing the total of confirmed infections to 388.
Among the new cases, 64 were in Tehran while the number of provinces hit by the outbreak rose to 24, Jahanpour said.
"We are currently in a phase in which infections are increasing," he said, predicting that the situation "will continue for some days, even weeks".
US health workers ex-posed to virus
Federal health employees were sent to interact with repatriated Americans quarantined for exposure to the novel coronavirus without wearing protective gear or receiving training, a whistleblower complaint cited by US media said Thursday.
The filing, which was seen by the Washington Post and New York Times, was submitted by a senior official in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) who said she was improperly re-assigned after raising her concerns and threatened with being fired if she did not comply.
According to the two newspapers, the incidents were in relation to two California air force bases, Travis and March. More than a dozen workers were sent to each site.
Travis Air Force Base is in Solano County, where the first US patient for whom the source of new coronavirus infection could not be immediately identified is from.
Singapore probes local chapter of sect
Singapore's government said Friday it is investigating the local chapter of a South Korean religious sect at the center of a surge of coronavirus cases in South Korea and plans to bar its activities in the city-state.
The Home Affairs Ministry said in a statement on its website that five South Korean nationals and two Singaporeans are assisting in investigations into the local activities of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus.
"(The ministry) believes, based on investigations, that the local SCJ chapter has used similar deceptive recruitment methods," it said, adding that it "intends to take action to proscribe the activities of SCJ in Singapore."
Coronavirus surge continues in S. Korea
South Korea continued to grapple with a surge in corona-virus infections on Friday as it reported 571 new cases, nearly doubling the total to 2,337 in just two days.
Of the new cases, 447 were in the southeastern city of Daegu, home to a branch of a Christian sect that has become the epicenter of the outbreak in the nation. The surrounding province of North Gyeongsang accounted for 64 new cases.
The death toll from the out-break stood at 13, unchanged from the previous day.
U.S. county declares public health emergency
Solano County in the U.S. state of California declared a public health emergency on Thursday over the first possible community spread case of COVID-19 in the United States.
"Solano County Public Health officials received confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that a Solano County resident has tested positive for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and has possibly acquired the disease through community transmission," the county said in a statement.
"The patient had not been exposed to the virus through travel or through any contact with any infected individual and the patient's exposure is unknown at this time," it said.
REFERENCES
AFP; Xinhua; Kyodo; WHO News Updated
PHOTOGRAPH: ERNESTO BENAVIDES/AFP, ED JONES/AFP
Ref; The Global New Light of Myanmar