Tedros isolates after contact tests positive

The World Health Organization chief said late on Sunday that he was self-quarantining after someone he had been in contact with tested positive for COVID-19, but stressed he had no symptoms.

“I have been identified as a contact of someone who has tested positive for #COVID19,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a tweet. “I am well and without symptoms but will self-quarantine over the coming days, in line with @WHO protocols, and work from home,” he added.

The UN health agency on Monday sought to dispel misinformation about Tedros’ self-isolation, writing on Twitter that “contrary to some incorrect reports,” he has not tested positive himself.

The WHO director-general has been at the forefront of the global response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected at least 46.5 million people and led to more than 1.2 million deaths, according to a count of confirmed cases by Johns Hopkins University.

The tweet did not identify who among his contacts had been infected. The UN health agency is based in Geneva, where cases are increasing and where tighter restrictions were announced on Sunday aimed to curb the spread of the virus. More than 1,000 new cases have been recorded each day recently in the city of about 500,000 people.

Tedros stressed on Twitter that “it is critically important that we all comply with health guidance.”

The 55-year-old former Ethiopian minister of health and foreign affairs has for months reiterated that each person has a role to play in halting the spread of the virus.

The WHO urges all individuals to be careful about hand-washing, wearing masks and keeping a distance.