Essential health services must not stop even amidst COVID-19 crisis: WHO

Director-General of World Health Organisation (WHO) TA Ghebreyesus on Monday said that even though the world is in the midst of coronavirus crisis, other essential health facilities should continue.

He said: "Even though we're in midst of crisis, essential health services must continue. Babies are still being born. Vaccines must still be delivered and people still need life-saving treatment for a range of other diseases."

The WHO has published a practical manual that details out the set-up and management of treatment facilities for the novel virus.

He added: "To help the countries manage the surge in #COVID19 cases while maintaining essential services, the WHO has published a detailed, practical manual on how to set up and manage treatment centres for COVID-19."

This manual covers the structural design of the treatment facility. The infection prevention and control system, other measurement systems and ventilation systems are also included in the manual.

Ghebreyesus said: "This is a life-saving instruction manual to deal with the surge of #COVID19 cases that some countries are facing right now."

In addition to this, Ghebreyesus added in a statement that the WHO is working with several partners to increase access to many life-saving and early preventive equipment including diagnostics, personal protective equipment, medical oxygen ventilators, and several other medical equipment.

As of Monday, 7,45,308 people globally have been infected by the deadly virus that first originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year.

The novel virus has claimed 35,307 lives. The United States has become the newest epicentre of the disease with at least 144,672 cases followed by 97,689 cases in Italy and 85, 195 cases in Spain, this is as per the data provided by Johns Hopkins University.