WHO representatives undertook a working visit to Tiraspol and will recommend measures to combat COVID-19 in the region

At the request of Chisinau, the UN delegation, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), undertook a technical visit to Tiraspol on 6 May, following two similar visits to Balti and Cahul.

This technical visit was part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the epidemiological situation and the public health measures applied throughout the Republic of Moldova.

On 7 May, a follow-up meeting on the WHO field visit was held between the Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration, Cristina Lesnic, the UN Resident Coordinator, Simon Springett, and the WHO Representative to the Republic of Moldova, Igor Pokanevych.

WHO and UNICEF representatives got acquainted with the organization of health services in fighting and controlling the pandemic and they visited several long-term care medical institutions. Special attention was given to risk surveillance and assessment, infections prevention and control, case management and testing.

Therewith, WHO and UNICEF Health Technical Officers emphasized protection of the front-line health workers, as well as compliance by the population with measures to prevent the spread of the virus, such as keeping social distance and hand hygiene.

WHO representatives informed about the results of the visit to the region and provided recommendations for further activities, in line with the United Nations global action to combat COVID-19. After the visit to the Transnistrian region, in the near future, WHO will present to the constitutional authorities of the Republic of Moldova a set of recommendations on epidemiological surveillance, infection prevention and control, early detection and clinical management of COVID-19. 

The Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration, Cristina Lesnic, thanked the WHO representatives for their openness and cooperation and appreciated the support provided. "Given self-isolation of the Transnistrian region, this is a substantial contribution to understanding the real situation in the field and to formulating response measures by the constitutional authorities. It is important for us to ensure the right to life and health for all citizens of the Republic of Moldova, including in the Transnistrian region", said Cristina Lesnic.

We would like to mention that the WHO visit to Tiraspol was accompanied by OSCE representatives.

Withal, we remind that, under the pretext of applying measures to limit the COVID-19 pandemic, de facto authorities in Tiraspol have taken actions to self-isolate, restrict free movement on both banks of Nistru and prevent the effective exercise of human rights.