WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Self-Isolates After Coming Into Contact With Covid-19 Case

Topline

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, is the latest leader at the forefront of battling the coronavirus crisis to go into self-isolation, after being identified as a close contact of someone who tested positive for the disease.

Key Facts

Key Background

Tedros, 55, joins a list of global leaders who have self-isolated in recent months after either coming into contact with someone with Covid-19, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, or after contracting it themselves, such as U.S. President Donald Trump. The timing of Tedros’ self-isolation comes as the outbreak, first reported to the WHO from Wuhan, China, on Dec. 31 2019, surges again across Europe and the U.S., prompting fresh lockdowns. In June, as a number of governments opted to lift months-long restrictions on movement and businesses, Tedros warned that the worst of the virus was “yet to come” as he slammed the absence of a joined-up, global strategy and inadequate test and trace systems.

Tangent

At the height of the first wave of the pandemic, and, despite the U.S. accounting for 9.2 million of 46 million infected worldwide, President Trump moved to take the U.S. out of the WHO, with the withdrawal set to be effective from July 2021. In May, Trump halted payments to the global public health body, accusing it of mismanaging the pandemic and being “China-centric”, as Trump’s own spat with China over trade and the coronavirus, worsened.

Further Reading

England Will Go On New Lockdown After Coronavirus Spike (Forbes)

France Follows Germany In Second Wave Of Lockdowns (Forbes)

Here’s Why The WHO Thinks ‘The Worst Is Yet To Come’ From Coronavirus (Forbes)

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