65 coronavirus cases at WHO headquarters in Geneva, internal email reveals
- Infections include five staff who worked on the premises and were in contact with one another, raising questions about preventive measures at the UN health body
- The revelation comes amid a surge of cases in Europe, host country Switzerland, and the city of Geneva, in particular
The World Health Organization has recorded 65 cases of the coronavirus among staff based at its headquarters, including five people who worked on the premises and were in contact with one another, an internal email obtained by Associated Press shows.
The UN health agency said it is investigating how and where the five people became infected – and that it has not determined whether transmission happened at its offices. WHO’s confirmation Monday of the figures in the email was the first time it has publicly provided such a count.
“To my knowledge, the cluster being investigated is the first evidence of potential transmission on the site of WHO,” Dr Michael Ryan, the agency’s chief of emergencies, told reporters on Monday after AP reported on the internal email.
The email said about half the infections recorded so far were in people who had been working from home. But 32 were in staff who had been working on premises at the headquarters building, where more than 2,000 people usually work and the agency says it has put in place strict hygiene, screening and other prevention measures.
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In the email, which was sent to staff on Friday, Raul Thomas, who heads business operations at WHO, noted that five people – four on the same team and one who had contact with them – had tested positive for Covid-19. That could indicate that basic infection control and social distancing procedures in place may have been broken.