The Secretary-General of IMO has received the attached guidance on "Operational considerations for managing COVID-19 cases/outbreak on board ships" prepared by WHO.

This document has been prepared based on current evidence about the transmission of 2019 coronavirus (previously named 2019-nCoV, now designated COVID-19) disease − that is, human-to-human transmission via respiratory droplets or direct contact with an infected
individual.

It is recommended that this guidance be used with the World Health Organization (WHO) Handbook for management of public health events on board ships.

The target audience for this document is any authority involved in the public health response to a COVID-19 public health event on board a ship, including International Health Regulations (IHR) National Focal Points (NFPs), port health authorities, and local, provincial and national health surveillance and response systems, as well as port operators and ship operators.