‘You need to be aware of your own risk’: WHO warns every person to evaluate what threat they pose or face over coronavirus

‘We can be advised by government, we can be advised by science. But in the end, this comes down to personal motivation and personal choice,’ says official

People must be aware of their own risk of catching and spreading coronavirus, a leading World Health Organisation (WHO) official has said.

Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies programme, said while governments can guide people’s choices and provide them with information, it is individual behaviour’s which “facilitate disease transmission”.

“Every person needs to look at their own risk – you need to know what the transmission in my area is... and not just rely on the information from governments,” Dr Ryan told a press briefing in Geneva.

“We are – by nature, by evolution – risk managers as individuals. And I think we’re intelligent and we’re able to do that – what we need is the information to make those risk-based decisions.

“We need to gain the knowledge to be able to make good decisions – we decide on our proximity to other individuals, we decide on the intensity of our social engagement, we decide how long we spend in that environment.

“We can be advised by government, we can be advised by science. But in the end, this comes down to personal motivation and personal choice. Governments, scientists have to support communities with the information.

“There is an element of government responsibility here and it is real, and this is very important. But there’s also an issue of individual responsibility and taking control and managing our own risks.”

His comments come after the global health body announced there have been more than 506,000 deaths and 10.3 million infections worldwide – with 60 per cent of all cases recorded in the past month.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO, said countries should expect local “flare-ups”.

“But countries that have the systems in place to apply a comprehensive approach should be able to contain these flare-ups locally and avoid reintroducing widespread restrictions,” he said.

Health leaders were also asked about other viruses which have “pandemic potential” – particularly a strain of flu carried by pigs in China highlighted in a recent study.

Officials stressed the virus is “not new” and had been under surveillance for “many years”.

But Dr Ryan said the new report highlights the “vital importance” of surveillance.

He continued: “[This] shows the vital importance of the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System, the WHO Collaborating Centre network – who keep these viruses under constant surveillance. There are many, many, many avian flu and influenza viruses out there that have pandemic potential. We learned that in 2009, where a pandemic emerged in the Americas.

“And we constantly need to stay on the alert, we need to continue to carry out very good surveillance on this.

“But again it’s important I think to reassure people that this is not a new virus – this is a virus that is under surveillance, we are concerned with any viruses that show potential to infect humans. And we will continue with our Collaborating Centres and the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System to keep this virus under close surveillance.”