Overview

In this edition of the COVID-19 Weekly Operational Update, highlights of country-level actions and WHO support to countries include:

• Rallying to combat COVID-19 rumours in the Democratic Republic of the Congo through a rumour alert and refutation system

• WHO recommends the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s public health laboratory for recognition as a national influenza centre

• WHO and Ministry of Health Zambia scale-up COVID-19 response and continuity of health services through the support of the Act-A Health Systems Connector

• WHO/Europe holds a workshop on data analysis and information management for emergency response for Azerbaijan through the Emergency Response Information Management System (ERIMS) initiative

• Lao People’s Democratic Republic Ministry of Health and WHO prepare local media for potential Omicron surge

• The Plurinational State of Bolivia leverages influenza capacities for COVID-19 response

• WHO builds a Global Health Facilities Database: Leveraging insights from COVID-19 to ensure better access to primary healthcare and Universal Health Coverage (UHC)

• Updates from the UN Crisis Management Team (UNCMT)

• Measuring the impact of online COVID-19 vaccine training courses

• Operations Support and Logistics

• Progress on a subset of global indicators that demonstrate country and global progress to end the acute phase of the pandemic