Infection Prevention and Control during Health Care when Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) is Suspected or Confirmed
29 June 2020
This is the third edition of WHO’s interim guidance on infection prevention and control (IPC) strategies during health care when coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is suspected or confirmed.
The first edition was adapted from WHO’s interim guidance on Infection prevention and control during health care for probable or confirmed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection, and on Infection prevention and control of epidemic- and pandemic-prone acute respiratory infections in health care.
The rationale for this updated edition has been to expand the scope and structure of earlier guidance, bringing together other interim recommendations as well as considerations and advice from subject matter experts.
The main differences and additions compared to the previous versions include the following:• all sub-sections in the section “Principles of IPC strategies associated with health care for suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19” were expanded to include clarifications and additional recommendations;
- new guidance and practical advice for management of visitors especially in areas with COVID-19 community transmission;
- inclusion of a sub-section on ventilation in the section ”Environmental and engineering controls”;
- new guidance on IPC considerations for surgical procedures for patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, as well as those patients whose COVID-19 status in unknown;
- considerations for dead body management in health care facilities;
- practical advice and available tools to assess health care facility IPC readiness and to monitor and evaluate IPC measures for COVID-19.
These guidelines have been published by the World Health Organization. EMGuidance confirms that it is not the owner of the information provided, nor does it intend to present it as such.