WHO Says More Evidence Needed About Effectiveness of Digital Contact Tracing Tools

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th June, 2020) More evidence is needed about the effectiveness of digital tracing tools that have been used to track the spread of the infection and they cannot replace human capacity, Director General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday.

"More evidence is needed about the effectiveness of these tools for contact tracing. We encourage countries to gather this evidence as they roll out these tools, and to contribute that evidence to the global knowledge base. We also emphasise that digital tools do not replace the human capacity needed to do contact tracing," Tedros said.

The WHO chief pointed out the benefits of such tools but remarked also on "challenges to privacy" that they can create.

The WHO is launching an online consultation on contact tracing on Tuesday to share the recent expertise. Contact tracing has been used most recently during the coronavirus pandemic to find everyone that a COVID-19 patient has been in contact with and ensure that these people can limit their exposure to others and therefore prevent further infections.