THE WORLD HEALTH Organisation (WHO) has said that countries should be worried about “second waves” of Covid-19 and warned that they should operate on the basis that the virus will be “with us for a while”.

At briefing this morning the WHO also expressed caution about serological tests, which look for the presence of antibodies to determine if an individual had previously had the coronavirus.

Asked if such tests could be used as the basis for so-called “immunity passports” for people to return to work, senior emergency officer at WHO Europe Catherine Smallwood said it’s too early to come this conclusion.

Smallwood said that, while antibody tests can give “an indication of who has been infected” within communities, “we cannot draw certain conclusions about the results”.

“One, because there’s a margin of error in the test results itself and these tests so far have not had the validation that gives us full certainty on the results,” she said.

Secondly, we have still an incomplete understanding on the immunity that is conferred after infection. And this is incredibly important. So we would advise very, very much caution in interpreting these types of results at the personal level and certainly in using them for determining whether a person can return to work or other types of decisions, which also have broader ethical implications that we need to treat and understand more carefully.

Also speaking about the future prospects for the spread of Covid-19, WHO regional director for Europe Dr Hans Kluge said that “we live in a planet of viruses” and that until vaccines are found governments must devise ways to live in the presence of infections.

“We have to live with potential and current outbreaks whether it is coronavirus or older ones. So in that sense, we are moving towards a new reality,” Kulge said.

“The development of vaccines and treatments are being sped up but even either with vaccines it’s very important that will be equitable access. So in that sense, the key issue for the time being, is for governments and societies to implement what we know of, and to have indeed a mindset that the virus is going to stick with us for a while.”

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