The U.S. federal government has moved to firm up its plan to reopen the country's economy by having the agency that serves a human resources function for the rest of the agencies issuing a new notice on its website about a "phased transition."

The Office of Personnel Management has updated its operating status for federal agencies on transitioning to normal working operations for government employees.

OPM replaced language about teleworking on Thursday, and now says the federal government would "begin a phased transition to normal operations in line with the national guidelines to open up American again."

It urged agencies to "make operating decisions based on state or locality of duty stations and other factors" and told employees to contact their supervisors with questions.

The World Health Organization (WHO), which has been calling for care in the plans to reopen economies, is now calling for a return to "basic principles" of public health surveillance in the fight against COVID-19.

Mike Ryan, head of the WHO's health emergencies programme, urged all countries to focus on the fundamentals of the global coronavirus fight: scouting potential new infections, hunting them down, confirming them and then separating those afflicted, to save others from the disease.

Source(s): CNN