• To view all technical guidance documents regarding COVID-19, please go to this webpage.
• WHO has developed interim guidance for laboratory diagnosis, advice on the use of masks during home care and
in health care settings in the context of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, clinical management,
infection prevention and control in health care settings, home care for patients with suspected novel
coronavirus, risk communication and community engagement and Global Surveillance for human infection with
novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
• WHO is working closely with International Air Transport Association (IATA) and have jointly developed a
guidance document to provide advice to cabin crew and airport workers, based on country queries. The
guidance can be found on the IATA webpage.
• WHO has been in regular and direct contact with Member States where cases have been reported. WHO is also
informing other countries about the situation and providing support as requested.
• WHO is working with its networks of researchers and other experts to coordinate global work on surveillance,
epidemiology, mathematical modelling, diagnostics and virology, clinical care and treatment, infection
prevention and control, and risk communication. WHO has issued interim guidance for countries, which are
updated regularly.
• WHO has prepared a disease commodity package that includes an essential list of biomedical equipment,
medicines and supplies necessary to care for patients with 2019-nCoV.
• WHO has provided recommendations to reduce risk of transmission from animals to humans.
• WHO has published an updated advice for international traffic in relation to the outbreak of the novel
coronavirus 2019-nCoV.
• WHO has activated the R&D blueprint to accelerate diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics.
• OpenWHO is an interactive, web-based, knowledge-transfer platform offering online courses to improve the
response to health emergencies. COVID-19 courses can be found here. Specifically, WHO has developed online
courses on the following topics: A general introduction to emerging respiratory viruses, including novel
coronaviruses (available in Arabic, English, French, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian); Critical Care of
Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (available in English and French); Health and safety briefing for respiratory
diseases - ePROTECT (available in English, French, and Russian); Infection Prevention and Control for Novel
Coronavirus (COVID-19) (available in English and Russian); and COVID-19 Operational Planning Guidelines and
COVID-19 Partners Platform to support country preparedness and response.
• WHO is providing guidance on early investigations, which are critical in an outbreak of a new virus. The data
collected from the protocols can be used to refine recommendations for surveillance and case definitions, to
characterize the key epidemiological transmission features of COVID-19, help understand spread, severity,
spectrum of disease, impact on the community and to inform operational models for implementation of
countermeasures such as case isolation, contact tracing and isolation. Several protocols are available here. One
such protocol is for the investigation of early COVID-19 cases and contacts (the “First Few X (FFX) Cases and
contact investigation protocol for 2019-novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection”). The protocol is designed to
gain an early understanding of the key clinical, epidemiological and virological characteristics of the first cases of
COVID-19 infection detected in any individual country, to inform the development and updating of public health
guidance to manage cases and reduce the potential spread and impact of infection.
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