Toefing on their efforts combat the coronavirus pandemic. Here is the director general. Evening,orning, good good afternoon everybody, and thank you for joining this briefing. We have a very special guest we are honored to have with us. Thank you very much and good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening, wherever you are. Ago, who six months and signed an agreement to Work Together to promote health football. What weot know then know now. Emergenew virus will that would bring many parts of society to a standstill. The beautiful, beautiful game itself. Matches have stopped, but our collaboration has become even more important during this difficult time. It has given us the opportunity of working together more closely then we imagined with fifa. Football can reach millions of people, especially younger people that Public Health officials cannot. Today, it is my great pleasure , thelcome my dear brother president of fifa, to talk about our joint campaign to pass the coronavirus. Ck out this is a campaign we are starting jointly called pass the message to kick out coronavirus. Pass the message to kick out coronavirus. I would like to take this opportunity to thank fifa for its generous contribution of 10 million u. S. Dollars to the covid19 solidarity support fund. Thank you for your generous contributions. Raised, the fund has more than 70 million u. S. Dollars in just 10 days, from individuals7,000 and organizations. To help workers on the front line to do their lifesaving work, treat patients, and treatmentesearch and and vaccines. Tiktok fore to thank its contribution of 10 million u. S. Dollars and for its valuable support in helping to reach is large, young audience with Reliable Health information. Our new of which, Whatsapp Health alert has sinceted 10 million users we launched it last friday. This is just in four days. Delivering information directly to mobile phones. Details on how to sign up are on the front page of our website. French, and spanish versions will be launched this week. This is the best way to be people. D directly with support you for your and the support of the whole football community. I would like to give you the floor to say a few words, but i would also like to recognize it is your birthday today, so i would like to say happy birthday, my dear brother. Thank you so much for joining us today. Happy birthday. Thank you. Well, thank you very much to tedros. Brother dr. For thefelt thanks opportunity to be here at the who today. , i would likemost to express our deepest condolences, of course, to all the families of those who have victims of the coronavirus. I would like to thank everyone, especially those involved in the medical profession who continue to put the lives of others in front of their own in fighting this disease. We are in their debt and their example should encourage us to follow the advice that we have given. ,ow regarding the campaign much to means so billions of people. Around the world. Me we have to show leadership and solidarity in these difficult days. Announced on a thursday afternoon at 5 00 but this was a pandemic, on friday at 9 00, i was in your office asking, how can football help . Messageto get the across the world, and football wants to help. This campaign actually came to us. We did not need to go looking for it. There are no actors, just players themselves. They want to highlight the byice provided to all of us the who. Thankat, i would like to all these Football Players who are part of this campaign for making it possible. And actually, the fifa teams includes of course the greatest footballers in the world and also our 211 member countries3. Together we are going to roll out this campaign in the next days in video, graphics, and in many languages so we can really pass the message to kick out coronavirus. Virus hasat this shown to all of us two things. One is how vulnerable we are. Global the world has become. Exceptional situations require exceptional measures and global problems require global solutions. We have to make sure we recover from this by bringing the entire world together as one and reminding everyone that we are all one kind. The humankind. We have to prove that we are capable of global acts of solidarity altogether. Because Health Comes First. Everything else comes after. So now, we have to be strong. We have to follow the guidance of the who, of our governments, and after, we have to rebuild our relations. Maybe and hopefully with more solidarity and understanding for each other. Football is ready to play its part in that. I am sure of one thing. Football, by acting together with determination, discipline, and teamwork, we will win. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Calli would like to ,llison baker, our ambassador who ambassador with online, you know, the best goalkeeper, he plays for liverpool. He is from brazil. Thank you for joining us and the floor is yours. Please. Hi dr. Tedros, good morning, good evening, good afternoon. First of all, happy birthday for you. I would like to say it is a great opportunity for me to be together with you, being part of this movement that is starting today. Of the message to kick out the coronavirus. ToFootball Players, we used act together. We used to Work Together, train together. Moment,ow in this tough everybody has changed their life. Staying home, not going out, not going to work. In my case, i am not able to be together with my colleagues, with my teammates, to do what i love, what is my passion. I was made for playing football. Now, because of this tough times, we are not able to do that, to bring happiness to other people through football. We also understand that is necessary. It is necessary to stay home, it and act iny to think solidarity. I believe in this moment we have to put solidarity out. It is the moment we have to put our passion out. I am glad to participate of this movement because the people need the right information. Momentecessary in this that you have the right information and also that we follow the right information. So i would like to say for the informationow the from the local authorities. Try to follow the information from the who. We can trust them. We can trust it is the right thing to do. We understand also Health Comes First in this moment. Football, toike in have teamwork. Job,body doing their own that includes to be safe, to be at home, to follow the advice, for example, wash your hands properly. From keeping distance from the about. We care we cannot forget we need now to work as a team. Supportlike to show my for the message to kick out coronavirus and say to you, thank you for letting me movement,e of this now that these tough times, we need to trust in ourselves, trust in the Human Capacity to work through adversities. It is not the first time in our lives that we need to overcome from something, from something bad. Now we need the participation from everybody. I would like again to say thank. Ou, thank you dr. Tedros i hope that is the right one. Thank you for being our ambassador. Please pass my greetings to your wife also. You both as a pair are helping as ambassadors. I look forward also to hear from natalia some other time. Thank you so much again. Thank you my dear brother. Thank you. Would now like to continue with the rest of my remarks on the covid19 pandemic. 300,000 cases of covid19 have now been reported to the who. Country in thery world. That is heartbreaking. Accelerating. S from the first reported case to reach the first 100,000 cases. The second 100,000 cases. Days for the third 100,000 cases. The virus isow accelerating. Not prisoners to statistics. We are not helpless by standards. We can change the trajectory of this pandemic. Because they are not just numbers. They are people. Families haved been turned upside down. Most is what we do. Win a Football Game only by defending. You have to attack as well. My brother can tell you more. Homeg people to stay at and other physical distancing way ofs are an important slowing down the spread of the virus. Buying time. Measuresare defensive that will not help us to win. , we need to attack the virus with aggressive and targeted tactics. ,esting every suspected case isolating and caring for every confirmed case, and tracing and quarantining every close contact. We recognize that some countries are struggling with the capacity to carry out this offensive measure. Several countries have shown that mobilizing resources internally from less affected regions is one way to increase capacity and help the overwhelmed Health System in some regions. We are also grateful that several countries have sent emergency medical teams to care for patients and train health thatrs in other countries we support. Example ofincredible international solidarity. But it is not an accident. The who has been working with countries for years to build a network of emergency medical this for exactly eventuality. To provide capacity of high Quality Health professionals who can be deployed to care for patients and save lives. I would like to use this opportunity to thank all countries who have contributed their emergency medical teams. To support other countries. Health workers can only do their can effectively when they do their jobs safely. Hear alarming reports from around the world of large numbers of infections among Health Workers. Even if we do Everything Else prioritizee do not protecting Health Workers, many people will die because the Health Worker who could have saved their lives is sick. Know, the who has been working hard with many partners to rationalize and prioritize the use of personal protective equipment. Addressing the global shortage of this these lifesaving tools means addressing every part of the supply chain from Raw Materials to finished products. To show put in place the spread of the virus may have unintended consequences of exacerbating shortages of essential products and dear gear and the materials to make them. Solving this problem requires andtical commitment political coordination at the global level. Addressingi will be heads of state and governments from the g20 countries. , i will be issues asking them to Work Together to increase production, avoid equitybands, and ensure of distribution on the basis of need. Unity in the g20 more than 80 have of the global gdp. , political commitment a veryg20 level means strong solidarity that can help fightmove forward and pandemic in the strongest terms possible. So i am asking the specific issues i said, the most ask g20 leaders for solidarity. One and to act as one because they have the biggest stake in the world. In all respects. Isalso recognize that there a desperate need for effective therapeutics. There is currently no treatment that has been proven to be effective against covid19. See the level of energy now being directed to against and development covid19. Will not give us the answers we need. Using untested medicines without the right evidence could raise do more harmd even than good. Of cause a shortage essential medicines that are needed to treat other diseases. Launchedhy the who has the solidarity trial to generate highquality evidence as fast as possible. I am glad that many countries have joined this solidarity trial. That will help us to move with speed and volume. The more countries that sign up for the solidarity trial and other large studies, the faster and the moreesults lives we will be helping to save. Solidarity trial will move faster and we will do bigger. And of course, with good quality. , bigger, and with quality. End by reminding everyone that although covid19 is dominating the worlds another there is preventable and treatable, which 1. 5 but which kills Million People every year. Is the oldtimer tuberculosis. Is worldow, tomorrow tb day. An opportunity to remind World Leaders of the commitment they have made to end the suffering and death caused by this ancient and terrible disease. Respondings rightly to covid19 with urgency and purpose. Community the global to harness that same urgency and purpose for the fight against tuberculosis. Safer, a healthier, fairer world. For everyone. The rule of the game, to kick covid19 out as we have agreed with my brother gianni, to kick it out, and that game is solidarity. So, myself and my brother gianni asked for solidarity to kick out this virus. I think you. Thank you. Said,dr. Tedros solidarity and leadership is critical for ending this outbreak. That is why football is involved, leading the way. We have a video now which will show you exactly what that means. All playing on the same team. Coronavirus. Together, we will win. There are key steps to fighting the coronavirus. Hands, elbow, face, distance. And feel. Please cover your nose and mouth if you sneeze or cough. If using tissues, dispose of them immediately. [speaking foreign language] if i may, i would just like to express thanks to my dear brother tedros. Thank you very much. Thank you as well for the birthday wishes, on the day of my 50th birthday, something useful, i hope. Have a whoghted to ambassador and being part of the team. By approach has been echoed players from all over the world. They might be rivals on the pitch, but their message to tackle coronavirus is united. They are, we are, all part of the same team. I would like as well to thank all the players from all over the world, all the legends who are part of this campaign or team, andis fifa who this is only the beginning of the campaign and the beginning but wefight together, will continue in solidarity. Together we will win. Thank you very much. Thank you, thank you my brother. Now we move on to the second half. I do not have a whistle. Meeting, then the briefing for questions. We do have a referee here, which is a good thing. Stay, you are welcome. You are welcome also to retire. We now open for questions from the media, who are all online. The first question we have is from pamela. Uganda radio network. Pamela, uganda radio network. You have the floor. Can you hear me . Looks like we have got a problem with our line. While remind everybody the technicalities are being fixed, if you wish to answer questions, raise your hand use the raise your hand icon on your screen. If you are calling, use the nine. One question for journalists, there are many of you and you are all waiting. Do not ask five questions. The next question, it looks like pamela has either left the call the next question is from fp. Es of a agnes, are you there . Yes, hello. Please go ahead. Hello everybody. I have a question concerning italy. The question is about the situation there. I wanted to know if dr. Tedros is recommending supermarkets should be closed in order that people should not go and it should be the government charged to organize the distribution of , given the people tragic situation. Thank you. Good afternoon. For is clearly a decision national and local Public Health authorities. They have to obviously make decisions based on what they see on the ground. Situations, people have been able to visit local supermarkets with proper spacing and distancing. Limited access, only allowing a certain number of people to visit at one time. The arrangements are really dependent on the local situation. I really look to local authorities to decide how best to manage physical distancing. ,f supermarkets are closed obviously there is a major religious six issue on how to actually get food to people logistics issue on how to get food to people. We will very much leave that to italian authorities to make that decision. Ryan. Nk you, dr. I should have said, we have our top team here as usual. As the director general. The next question comes from michael from cnn. Are you there . I am here, can you hear me . Go ahead, please. Thank you for taking my call. I am dialing in from British Columbia in canada where we have reached 424 cases, between the numbers in hong kong and singapore. My question is about sports. As you know, the Canadian Olympic Committee has said it will not be sending athletes to tokyo. For the health and welfare of their members and also i think we are getting the same messages from australia and elsewhere. My question is, a lot of National Olympic committees are looking to the who for guidance on this ahead of the ioc making a decision. I know it is a sensitive topic. I know there are considerations. But i think about athletes who cannot go to Training Facilities , who are caring for loved ones, perhaps even suffering from covid19, looking for guidance from you as time is ticking. Thank you. Thank you for the question. Is undere of the games close observation of the moment. Premier inard the japan has expressed doubts about the games as well. There feeding into deliberations on this. I believe a decision will be made very soon regarding the future of the games. A decision to postpone the games would be purely a decision of the japanese government and the ioc, but we are obviously in the advice. Of offering risk as we said previously, we have every confidence the japanese government and the ioc will not proceed with games should there be danger to athletes or spectators. Thank you, dr. Ryan. We will now go to the agency in turkey. Are you on the line . Good afternoon, good evening everybody. Edros, there is a great panic in many countries in europe. The pandemic is spreading rapidly. People do not know what to do at the high level. Preventave a plan to [indiscernible] thank you. Thank you for that question. It is a very important one in terms of the way people are feeling as numbers increase and as in some countries the situation gets worse before it will get better. What is very important for everyone across the world is to know what they can do to protect themselves and what they can do to protect their families. We need everyone to be wellinformed. It is important that everyone knows where to get good, reliable information, whether that is through who, to know how to protect yourself and your family, or three or national governments. Not only to know how to protect yourself, but to no, what are the plans of the government that are being enforced and to know what your role is. That important that fear people have, which is normal, be used in a productive way, turning that energy into ways in which you can keep yourself busy if you have to stay home because of national measures. Just because we have mentioned physical distancing does not mea