Geneva, July 28 (RHC)-- Keeping borders closed to halt the spread of COVID-19 is unsustainable, the World Health Organization said, urging countries to adopt comprehensive strategies based on local knowledge of where the virus is spreading.

Border closures and travel restrictions remain an important part of many countries' strategies to combat the novel coronavirus.

But the UN health body warned that such measures cannot be kept up indefinitely, and are also only useful when combined with a wide range of other measures to detect and break chains of transmission.

"Continuing to keep international borders sealed is not necessarily a sustainable strategy for the world's economy, for the world's poor, or for anybody else,"  Michael Ryan, WHO emergencies director, told journalists in a virtual briefing.