WHO calls COVID cluster in Beijing 'significant'
June 15, 2020 22:57
The World Health Organization called a coronavirus cluster of more than 100 cases in Beijing a significant event.
Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of WHOs Health Emergencies Program, said, In China, when you spend over 50 days without having any significant local transmission the cluster like this is a concern, and it needs to be investigated and controlled.
In that sense, it is big news. Within the grand scheme of things around the number of cases per day around the world, it's not, but it is significant event, Ryan said.
We're always concerned for clusters, said Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO infectious disease epidemiologist.
Van Kerkhove said every single case needs to be addressed, But clusters are a special condition, because in any country we need to understand why is there the clustering?
Ryan said now is the time to investigate whats driving the new infections. It's important for us to hypothesize. It's important for us to make models about what might be happening. But the answer is lay in careful, careful, systematic, exhaustive investigation of disease clusters, to really look at what is happening in these situations," he said.
If we get that, we will build up a much better picture of the public health advice we need to give our communities -- on what behaviors to avoid, and what places to avoid, and what circumstances to avoid, Ryan added.
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