World Health Organisation (WHO) Western Pacific regional director Dr Takeshi Kasai said the common tactics in handling Covid-19 - tracking, isolating and quarantining patients - will not completely eliminate the risks.

What is does is buy time for a country to prepare for large-scale community transmission.

"The common tactics are to identify cases early, isolate and treat and trace contact and quarantine them (the patients).

"The risk will not go away as long as the pandemic continues. Rather, these measures can buy us time to prepare for a large-scale community transmission," Kasai, who is based in Manila, Philippines, said in an online press conference today.