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... ENCL.: (1)

Ref.: C.L.17.2026

Extension of the standing recommendations for COVID-19

The Director-General of the World Health Organization presents his compliments to States Parties to the International Health Regulations (2005) (hereinafter “IHR”) and has the honour to refer to Article 16 of the IHR.

Pursuant to this provision, on 9 August 2023, the Director-General issued standing recommendations to States Parties for COVID-19 and, on 30 April 2025, he extended them until 30 April 2026. Those recommendations, and the extension thereof, were respectively presented for the consideration of the Seventy-seventh World Health Assembly in document A77/8 Add.2, and for information to the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly in document A78/INF./7.

Considering the evolution of the global epidemiological situation in relation to COVID-19 (see https://data.who.int/dashboards/covid19), a one-year extension of the above-mentioned set of standing recommendations is regarded as necessary to prevent or reduce the international spread of COVID-19, as well as its impact on health.

The Director-General of the World Health Organization will present for information to the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly (18–23 May 2026) the above-mentioned set of standing

... recommendations for COVID-19, extended until 30 April 2027, as presented in the enclosure.

The Director-General of the World Health Organization takes this opportunity to renew to States Parties to the IHR the assurance of his highest consideration.

GENEVA, 30 April 2026

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Extension of the Standing recommendations for COVID-19 issued by the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO)

in accordance with the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR)1

These standing recommendations are issued by the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) in accordance with provisions of Articles 16 to 18 and 50 to 53 of the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR or Regulations).

These standing recommendations, based on scientific principles and evidence, represent an additional extension of the standing recommendations for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) issued on 9 August 2023, taking into consideration the advice of the IHR Review Committee regarding standing recommendations for COVID-19,2 and subsequently extended on 30 April 2025.3

The extension of these standing recommendations is necessary to support States Parties in addressing the risk posed by COVID-19 and to prevent or reduce the international spread of SARS-CoV-2, as well as its impact on health.

These standing recommendations are in effect for all States Parties until 30 April 2027.

These standing recommendations may be modified or terminated prior to that time, in accordance with Article 53 of the Regulations.

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1 See document A77/8 Add.2. 2 See document A77/8 Add.1. 3 See document A78/INF./7.

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A. States Parties are recommended to revise and implement, as appropriate, national COVID-19 plans and policies taking into account the “WHO Strategic plan for coronavirus disease threat management: advancing integration, sustainability, and equity, 2025–2030”.4 This document builds on and supersedes previous WHO strategic preparedness and response plans for COVID-19, including the “WHO COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan April 2023–April 2025”.5 This document supports States Parties in developing and implementing sustainable, comprehensive approaches to coronavirus diseases, including COVID-19. Actions are recommended to:

1. Incorporate lessons learned from national and subnational evaluations of the COVID-19 response into COVID-19-related plans and policies.

2. Sustain national and subnational capacities, as appropriate, for preparedness, prevention, and response for COVID-19. The capacity gains achieved during the public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) associated with the COVID-19 pandemic should be leveraged to prepare for current and future events of both COVID-19 and other infectious pathogens with epidemic and pandemic potential. These capacities may include multisource surveillance, risk assessment, testing and sequencing capacities, infection prevention and control, clinical management, planning and delivery of mass gathering events, risk communication and community engagement, infodemic management, public health and social measures, and access to and use of medical countermeasures.

3. Based on the current COVID-19 epidemiological situation, refrain from any unilateral travel-related restrictions or health measures, including requirements for testing or vaccination, and lift any such remaining measures to avoid unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade.

4. Continue to restore health programmes adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

B. States Parties are recommended to sustain collaborative surveillance6 for COVID-19, in order to provide a basis for situational awareness and risk assessment and the detection of significant changes in virus characteristics, virus spread, disease severity and population immunity. Actions are recommended to:

5. Incorporate information from different COVID-19 monitoring systems to ensure detection of early warning signals and prepare to scale up and adapt systems, as needed. Include, as applicable, surveillance in sentinel populations, genomic sequencing, event-based surveillance, wastewater or environmental surveillance, serosurveillance, clinical severity assessment, and surveillance in animal populations.

4 See the WHO Strategic plan for coronavirus disease threat management: advancing integration,

sustainability, and equity, 2025–2030 (accessed on 9 April 2026). 5 The WHO COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan April 2023–April 2025 was referred to

in the set of standing recommendations for the period 30 April 2025–30 April 2026 (accessed on 9 April 2026). 6 The definition of collaborative surveillance by WHO is available at Defining collaborative surveillance.

Geneva: World Health Organization; 2023 (accessed 20 February 2026).

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Support the enhancement of surveillance using a One Health approach7 to better understand severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) circulation and evolution in animals.

6. Integrate COVID-19 surveillance with surveillance for other respiratory infections, e.g. influenza, where applicable, to provide baselines relative to other circulating viruses.

C. States Parties are recommended to continue reporting COVID-19 data, particularly mortality data, morbidity data, SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences with metadata, and vaccine effectiveness data to WHO or in open sources so that WHO can understand and describe the epidemiological situation and variant landscape, perform global risk assessments and work with expert networks and relevant WHO advisory groups. Actions are recommended to:

7. Report COVID-19 burden and impact data including hospitalization, intensive care units, and mortality data to WHO, or publish the data.

8. Maintain public reporting of sequences with metadata and support the establishment of the WHO Global Coronavirus Laboratory Network (CoViNet) in order to, inter alia, support future selection of strains for updated vaccines.

9. Report epidemiological and laboratory information in a timely manner to established WHO regional or global platforms, through RespiMart and the expanded activities of the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS).

10. Improve reporting on COVID-19 vaccine implementation and programme data to WHO, in particular vaccine uptake in high-risk groups, via established systems.

11. Notify WHO through IHR channels about significant COVID-19-related events.

D. States Parties are recommended to continue to offer COVID-19 vaccination based on both, the recommendations of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) and on national prioritization informed by cost benefit reviews. Vaccine delivery should be appropriately integrated into health services. Actions are recommended to:

12. Improve efforts to increase COVID-19 vaccination coverage for all people in the high-priority groups using COVID-19 vaccines recommended by WHO or vaccines approved by national regulatory authorities, taking into account SAGE recommendations, and continue surveillance of vaccination uptake and adverse events.

13. Address actively vaccine misinformation, disinformation, acceptance, and demand issues with communities and healthcare providers.

7 See the WHO One Health webpage (accessed 20 February 2026).

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E. States Parties are recommended to continue to initiate, support, and collaborate on research to generate evidence for COVID-19 prevention and control, with a view to reducing the disease burden of COVID-19. Actions are recommended to:

14. Contribute to the global research agenda to generate and promptly disseminate evidence for key scientific, social, clinical and public health aspects of COVID-19 prevention, control, and disease burden reduction.

15. Improve collaboration between countries and with national and international organizations to design and perform such research. Particular attention should be paid to funding aimed at strengthening research institutions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and to support LMIC researchers to lead and/or participate in research for national, regional or global research agendas.

16. Continue primary research and systematic reviews of research, including but not limited to the following topics:

• Understanding SARS-CoV-2 transmission patterns and the impact of climate, seasonality and behaviour.

• Understanding SARS-CoV-2 evolution and its impact on medical countermeasures.

• Understanding the optimal use and impact of single and combined public health and social measures and travel related health measures on reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission as well as the impact of misinformation and disinformation on adherence to such measures.

• Vaccination efficacy, effectiveness, duration and safety in groups defined by age, medical conditions and previous infection and vaccination with various products.

• Development of vaccines that reduce transmission and have broad applicability.

• Improved treatment of severe COVID-19 cases.

• Development of therapeutics for COVID-19.

• Understanding the full spectrum, incidence, impact, and treatment possibilities for post COVID-19 conditions (PCC).

• Understanding the origins of SARS-CoV-2.

• Understanding the breadth and duration of immunity after infection, vaccination, or both, and cross-reactivity with other coronaviruses.

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F. States Parties are encouraged to continue to deliver optimal clinical care for COVID-19, appropriately integrated into all levels of health services, including access to proven treatments and measures to protect health workers and caregivers as appropriate. States Parties are encouraged to take actions to:

17. Ensure provision, and related scaling-up mechanisms, of appropriate clinical care, with infection prevention and control measures in place, for suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases in clinical settings. Ensure training of healthcare providers accordingly and provide access to diagnostics and to personal protective equipment.

18. Integrate COVID-19 clinical care within health services as appropriate.

19. Ensure access to provision of evidence-based care and health products for patients with acute COVID-19 and PCC.

G. States Parties are encouraged to continue to work towards ensuring equitable access to safe, effective and quality-assured medical countermeasures for COVID-19. States Parties are encouraged to take action to:

20. Support and enhance equitable access to safe, effective and quality-assured diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines for all communities for COVID-19, including through, for example resource mobilization mechanisms and technology transfer, as appropriate.

21. Intensify ongoing efforts, including through global and regional networks, to expand the manufacturing capacity of diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines for COVID-19.

22. Strengthen regulatory authorities to support efficient and effective authorization of diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines within national regulatory frameworks.

Geneva, 30 April 2026