WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus self-isolates after Covid-19 contact

Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
REUTERS
Luke O'Reilly2 November 2020

World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is in quarantine after being identified as a close contact of a person who tested positive for Covid-19.

Dr Tedros, 55, tweeted that he was “well and without symptoms”, but will self-quarantine in “coming days, in line with WHO protocols, and work from home”.

A statement from WHO denied that Mr Tedros had contracted coronavirus - contrary to some earlier reports.

“Contrary to some incorrect reports, @DrTedros hasn’t tested positive for #COVID19", it said in a statement.

Mike Ryan, WHO’s emergency chief, suggested later that Dr Tedros had not been tested and was not required to undergo a test under its current protocols. Dr Tedros and the WHO did not identify the contact who had tested positive.

Speaking at a regular WHO briefing, Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for the Covid-19 pandemic, said there had been no transmission of the virus at the agency’s main site in Geneva — a city like others across Europe that has faced a spike in cases in recent days, prompting new lockdown measures by local authorities.

“We haven’t had any transmission take place on the premises, and we have no clusters on the premises,” she said. “But it is something that we’re monitoring every day.”

Mike Ryan, the WHO’s emergencies chief, said its “current protocols” do not require Dr Tedros to be tested for the virus, and said “his testing will depend on the arrival of symptoms or otherwise, and he may be tested in the days to come”.

The WHO has tallied “a number of cases” since the outbreak swept the globe earlier this year, Dr Ryan said, adding that “most cases have been acquired at community level, very few within the building here”.

Asked about the contradiction about whether any transmission had occurred on-site, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said the public position from the agency was that there has been none at headquarters.

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