Plenary III –COVID-19: A Global Perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for healthcare systems and economies worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) has played a critical role in responding to this crisis, providing guidance on prevention, testing, treatment, and vaccination strategies. This presentation will provide an overview of the challenges and opportunities that the pandemic has presented from the WHO perspective. The challenges include varied level of alert, detect and response capacities of countries, the rapid spread of the virus, surge of severe cases and deaths overwhelming health care system, shortages of medical supplies and equipment, infodemic and the emergence of new variants. Despite these challenges, the pandemic has also created opportunities for innovation and collaboration, such as the development of new diagnostic tests and vaccines, and the sharing of knowledge and expertise among countries. This presentation will highlight the key lessons learned from the pandemic and the ongoing efforts by the WHO and its partners to prepare for and mitigate the impact of future emerging and re-emerging infections on global health and economies.

The COVID-19 pandemic is unique due to the disease features and the unprecedented response by countries around the world. The unpredictable developments during the pandemic resulted in substantial impact to health and other sectors, and countries that had strong crisis and pandemic management systems generally performed well in reducing the impact. Some of the good practices that enabled effective preparedness and response include a whole-of-government approach, real time research, evidence-based decision making, international collaborations, well-executed ground operations, leveraging on technology, and effective communications. This presentation will discuss these good practices, and the lessons learnt from the pandemic that should be incorporated into future plans to enable countries to be able to respond flexibly to a future disease X.