Situation Report-78 HIGHLIGHTS • One new country/territory/area reported cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours: São Tomé and Príncipe. • Today, 7 April, marks World Health Day and this year WHO pays tribute to the incredible contribution of all health workers, especially nurses and midwives. Nurses are the largest component of the health workforce and play a fundamental role in combatting COVID-19 and achieving Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals. WHO has published the first-ever report on the state of the world's nursing workforce, available here. It renews calls on governments to invest in nurses. 1 279 722 confirmed (68 766) 72 614 deaths (5020) Western Pacific Region 113 641 confirmed (1119) 3892 deaths (31) European Region 686 338 confirmed (30 999) 52 809 deaths (3330) SouthEast Asia Region 9132 confirmed (304) 362 deaths (18) Eastern Mediterranean Region 78 565 confirmed (4218) 4149 deaths (173) Region of the Americas 384 242 confirmed (31 650) 11 097 deaths (1417) African Region 7092 confirmed (476) 294 deaths (51)

UNSTRUCTURED The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has revealed many areas of public health preparedness that are lacking, especially in lower- and middle-income countries. Digital interventions provide many opportunities for strengthening health systems and could be vital resources in the current public health emergency. We provide several use cases for infection control, home-based diagnosis and screening, empowerment through information, public health surveillance and epidemiology, and leveraging crowd-sourced data. A thoughtful, concerted effort—leveraging existing experience and robust enterprise-grade technologies—can have a substantive impact on the immediate and distal consequences of COVID-19.

Purpose: The major objectives of the study were to assess the knowledge, attitude & practice (KAP) towards community preparedness and response on prevention of COVID-19 among the community people. Method: A sample survey was conducted to collect data from people admitted to a district-level tertiary hospital for the treatment of various health complications during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 300 randomly selected patients and their attendants were interviewed in the hospital setting. Results: The mean knowledge score was 18.73 out of 24 and the main sources of information were TV (86.5%), radio (13%), newspaper (13%), social media (13.5%), friends/relatives (14%), formal healthcare providers (6%) and religious leaders (3%). Knowledge was significantly poor among aged people, women, less educated, and less earning. The majority of the participants (79%) suggested wearing facemasks as effective tools to prevent COVID-19 from spreading, whereas 56% mentioned maintaining physical or social distance as crucial to prevent the infection. We found strong relationship between monthly total family expenses and wearing of facemasks by gender to prevent the COVID-19 (x2= 18.405; Cramer’s V= .17, df = 8; sig; P= < .018). Similarly maintaining physical/social distance to prevent COVID-19 is also related to respondents’ economic strata (x2= 43.741; Cramer’s V= .14, df = 20; Sig; P= < .002). Conclusions: Awareness program on COVID-19 is very important to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.  Effective communication intervention with increasing treatment facilities is essential for the prevention and control of COVID-19. Government and development agencies should prioritize the COVID-19 response program with regular health care services.