WHO: We can't give up on contact tracing, 'no matter how extremely difficult' it is to track the spread of the coronavirus

• No matter how out-of-control the coronavirus pandemic has become, contact tracing remains a critical tool in controlling the spread, the WHO said Monday.
• The eradication of the recent Ebola outbreak is one example of how contact tracing worked even in the most difficult of circumstances.
• "COVID-19 can be stopped. We do not have to wait for a vaccine. We have to save lives now," Tedros said.

As cases of the coronavirus have surged across the US, some leaders have thrown up their hands when it comes to public-health tools like contact tracing, saying the process is just "impossible" when caseloads are overwhelming.

Contact tracing, a longstanding public-health intervention used to control the spread of infectious diseases, involves finding the people who've been in contact with an infected person — and sometimes the contacts of contacts as well — so they can quarantine themselves and avoid spreading it to others.

But on Monday World Health Organization leaders said the challenge of contact tracing is no excuse for letting people die while waiting for a vaccine — and pointed to the eradication of the recent outbreak of Ebola as an example.

"When it comes to controlling epidemics, what's at stake is human lives, and we can't give up, we can't abdicate our responsibilities," Dr. Ibrahima Socé Fall, WHO assistant director-general of emergency response, said during a media briefing. "No matter how extremely difficult the conditions are, we have to go on."

The recent eradication of Ebola in Congo demonstrates how contact-tracing works even in the most difficult circumstances

Last month, the Ebola outbreak in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo — the second deadliest in history — was declared over, in no small part due to contact tracing, the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu said Monday.

"When Ebola was discovered in the city of Bhutan last year, experts wondered whether it would be possible to bring the outbreak under control," he said. "But against all odds, the outbreak was stopped in large part because the government, WHO, and partners invested heavily in contact tracing, isolating suspected cases, and treating those that became sick."

Contact tracing there was far from easy: The region was rife with civil unrest, poverty, difficult terrain, poor infrastructure, and the need to cover hundreds of thousands of people.

"If there are difficult times, then you have to combine contact tracing and actively going out to identify cases," Fall said. "And if you do those two things together, you can win."

That's a lesson for leaders fighting the coronavirus, Tedros said.

"Ebola and COVID-19 are different viruses, but the principle is the same: No matter how bad the situation, there is always hope with strong leadership, community engagement, and a comprehensive strategy to suppress transmission and save lives," he said.

"COVID-19 can be stopped. We do not have to wait for a vaccine. We have to save lives now."