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WHO / COVID-19 UPDATE
STORY: WHO / COVID-19 UPDATE
TRT: 04:31
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 23 JULY 2020, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
FILE – RECENT - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior, WHO Headquarters
23 JULY 2020, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, WHO officials at press conference
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
"And the comments are untrue and unacceptable and without any foundation for that matter. And our sole focus and the focus of the entire organization is on saving lives. If there is one thing that really matters to us and which should matter to the entire international community, it's saving lives and WHO will not be distracted by these comments and we don't want the international community also to be distracted."
4. Wide shot, WHO officials at press conference
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
"Although all countries have been affected, we continue to see intense transmission in a relatively small group of countries. Almost 10 million cases, or two-thirds of all cases globally, are from 10 countries, and almost half of all cases reported so far are from just three countries."
6. Wide shot, WHO officials at press conference
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
"We’re asking everyone to treat the decisions about where they go, what they do and who they meet with as life-and-death decisions – because they are. It may not be your life, but your choices could be the difference between life and death for someone you love, or for a complete stranger. In recent weeks we have seen outbreaks associated with nightclubs and other social gatherings, even in places where transmission had been suppressed."
8. Wide shot, WHO officials at press conference
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
"As we have said previously, political leadership and community engagement are the two vital pillars of the response. One of the tools governments can use is the law – not to coerce, but to protect health while protecting human rights. Yesterday, WHO, the United Nations Development Programme and Georgetown University launched the COVID-19 Law Lab, a database of laws that countries have implemented in response to the pandemic."
10. Wide shot, WHO officials at press conference
11. SOUNDBITE (English) David Clarke, Team Leader UHC and Health Systems Law, Department of Health System Governance, Policy and Aid Effectiveness, World Health Organization (WHO):
"And just add on the legal topic. One of the reasons that we've set up this new Law Lab is to help countries to better understand how they can legislate for the response. As Dr. Ryan said, it's a matter of balance between making sure that people voluntarily work with us to make sure that we save lives, but in cases where legislation is necessary, we're trying to provide countries with good advice about what good legislation looks like that will help those countries to deal with things like the compulsory wearing of masks in appropriate circumstances and to deal with quarantine in appropriate circumstances."
12. Wide shot, WHO officials at press conference
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO):
"I think we have to be careful here that when we see clusters of cases or a rising in cases after lockdowns are lifted, that in some way that is projected as an error or a fault or a failing. It happens. The minute you raise the pressure on the virus and the virus is at community level, you will see sporadic or clusters of cases. The question you should ask is what is the reaction to that?"
14. Wide shot, WHO officials at press conference
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO):
"And we need everybody on board. The DG's spoken. It's not just the authorities on board, it's not just the responsibility of the authorities, it's also of communities and people within those communities. And more and more of the youth and not just the older ones, the old fogies like myself and others. Youth culture can break this. Youth culture can help drive this pandemic or youth activism can help break the back on this virus."
16. Wide shot, WHO officials at press conference
Responding to allegations of improper influence by a member state, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus today (23 Jul) said, "the comments are untrue and unacceptable and without any foundation for that matter.”
Dr. Tedros said, “our sole focus and the focus of the entire organization is on saving lives” and added that the WHO “will not be distracted by these comments and we don't want the international community also to be distracted."
Briefing journalists via video teleconference from Geneva, he said "although all countries have been affected, we continue to see intense transmission in a relatively small group of countries. Almost 10 million cases, or two-thirds of all cases globally, are from 10 countries, and almost half of all cases reported so far are from just three countries."
The WHO official said, "we’re asking everyone to treat the decisions about where they go, what they do and who they meet with as life-and-death decisions – because they are. It may not be your life, but your choices could be the difference between life and death for someone you love, or for a complete stranger.”
He noted recent reports of “outbreaks associated with nightclubs and other social gatherings, even in places where transmission had been suppressed."
Dr. Tedros said, governments can use the law “not to coerce, but to protect health while protecting human rights” and noted that together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Georgetown University, the WHO has launched the COVID-19 Law Lab, “a database of laws that countries have implemented in response to the pandemic."
WHO’s Team Leader in UHC and Health Systems Law, David Clarke, said, "one of the reasons that we've set up this new Law Lab is to help countries to better understand how they can legislate for the response.”
Clarke said, “it's a matter of balance between making sure that people voluntarily work with us to make sure that we save lives, but in cases where legislation is necessary, we're trying to provide countries with good advice about what good legislation looks like that will help those countries to deal with things like the compulsory wearing of masks in appropriate circumstances and to deal with quarantine in appropriate circumstances."
For his part, the Executive Director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, Michael Ryan, said, "the minute you raise the pressure on the virus and the virus is at community level, you will see sporadic or clusters of cases. The question you should ask is what is the reaction to that?"
Ryan said, “we need everybody on board. The DG's spoken. It's not just the authorities on board, it's not just the responsibility of the authorities, it's also of communities and people within those communities. And more and more of the youth and not just the older ones, the old fogies like myself and others. Youth culture can break this. Youth culture can help drive this pandemic or youth activism can help break the back on this virus."
According to the latest WHO COVID-19 situation report, there have been 14,765,256 confirmed cases worldwide, resulting in 612,054 confirmed deaths.
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