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COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan for UNRWA (10 March 2020)

Pays
territoire Palestinien occupé
+ 3
Sources
UNRWA
Date de publication
Origine
Voir l'original

Background

On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (or COVID-19) a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)1 under the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005). According to WHO, as of 10 pm of 9 th March 2020, a total of 109,577 confirmed cases in the world including 80,904 cases in China and 3,809 deaths, of those 3,123 deaths are in China. Besides China, COVID-19 is present in 104 countries/territories/area including Iran, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia and Afghanistan in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

The overall goal of this preparedness plan is to strengthen the preventive measures to reduce the risks of transmission of COVID-19 in UNRWA offices and institutions, and enable UNRWA to response effective and timely manner.

This COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan for UNRWA has been developed to outline the priority steps and actions included in major areas of public health preparedness and response. The two key reference documents are:

• WHO: COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan: Operational planning guidelines to support country preparedness and response (12 February 2020)2 .

• UN: Novel coronavirus (2019-NCOV) Preparedness and Response: a checklist for UN duty stations (January 2020) 3

This plan, however, could change drastically in the future. Global knowledge of this novel coronavirus is expanding and improving. The outbreak situations in the countries, the regions and world would also change drastically. The plan will be updated/revised following such changes.

The WHO COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan has 8 priority steps and actions (or pillars) for the country preparedness and response plan (CPRP). The UN Preparedness and Response Plan has 9 key areas to check. UNRWA’s strategic Preparedness and Response plan follows the WHO document structure, but also integrates relevant sections of the UN preparedness and response, as set out below. UNRWA’s planning is based on information from WHO, which is available here: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019