This guidance advises countries how to reduce the spread of COVID-19 resulting from travel, transportation, and trade on and around ground crossings by:
1. Identifying priority ground crossings and communities;
2. Scaling up preparedness and control measures at these locations.
This guidance has been developed in line with WHO’s Handbook for public health capacity building at ground crossings and cross-border collaborations and WHO’s global strategy to respond to COVID-19. The target audience of this guidance includes:
• the IHR National Focal Point (IHR NFP);
• authorities responsible for implementing the IHR at ground crossings;
• representatives of government and non-governmental organizations and their partners at ground crossings;
• public health professionals involved in disease surveillance, communication, emergency preparedness and response, animal health and environmental health at ground crossings and in nearby communities.
This guidance is divided into the following sections: identification of priority ground crossings, key preparedness activities for those crossings and nearby communities. It also covers: legal enforcement and planning, surveillance, interviewing and managing sick travellers with suspected COVID-19, acute emergency response during mass movement across the border, supplies of infection and control equipment and material, risk communication, cross border collaboration, and risk monitoring and adapting health measures as trends change.