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Coronavirus

COVID-19: WHO investigating possible cluster of COVID-19 among staff at Geneva headquarters

Five cases of COVID-19 are being investigated at the WHO's Geneva headquarters, according to a leaked email.
Five cases of COVID-19 are being investigated at the WHO's Geneva headquarters, according to a leaked email. Photo credit: Getty / Google / Reuters

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded 65 COVID-19 infections among staff at its Geneva headquarters since the beginning of the pandemic - and a possible cluster of cases is currently under investigation, according to a leaked internal email.

Five staff members have tested positive in the past week, Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead for COVID-19, confirmed on Monday (local time).

"All are doing well, all have had mild disease or [are] asymptomatic," Van Kerkhove said.

Mike Ryan, the WHO's top emergency expert, said at a press conference: "To my knowledge, the cluster being investigated is the first evidence of potential transmission on the site of WHO, but we can't completely protect ourselves from our own social and other engagements with family and school and so many other things."

According to the email, obtained by the Associated Press, about half of the infections recorded so far were in people who had been working remotely from home. However, 32 were staff members who had been working at the headquarters - premises usually filled with more than 2000 employees. The agency says strict hygiene, screening and other prevention measures are in place.

According to a leaked email obtained by AP - later confirmed by WHO officials - five staff members have tested positive in the last week.
According to a leaked email obtained by AP - later confirmed by WHO officials - five staff members have tested positive in the last week. Photo credit: Getty

Ryan said the Swiss cantons of Geneva - where the United Nations' health agency is based - and the adjoining Vaud canton have "some of the most intense transmission in the world right now".

Forty-nine of the WHO's overall cases occurred in the last eight weeks - "thus very much in line with the situation being reported in Geneva and the surrounding areas", according to the author of the email, Raul Thomas, who heads business operations at the agency. 

Monday (local time) also marked Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' return from quarantine after he was identified as a contact of another COVID-19 case.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has returned from quarantine after being identified as a close contact of another case.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has returned from quarantine after being identified as a close contact of another case. Photo credit: Getty

"I was okay, no symptoms. It's day 17 now. I followed the protocols. Because of no symptoms and also the full follow-up of the protocol, I didn't see the need for testing. I can assure you that I'm okay and actually very, very busy," Tedros said.

Reuters / Newshub.