Geneva, Mar 6 (IANS): Saudi Arabia on Thursday warned its citizens against China's experience has shown fundamental measures do work to contain COVID-19, such as measures of identifying cases and contacts, as well as mobilizing population, an epidemiologist of the World Health Organization (WHO) noted here Thursday, calling on countries to make full use of them.

Deeply touched by the absolute drive of every person she met in China amid the epidemic, Maria van Kerkhove, technical lead for the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, told a daily briefing that everyone in China knows their role in the COVID-19 outbreak, adding they know how to protect themselves and their families, as well as what they need to do collectively to bring the epidemic under control, the Xinhua news agency reported.

WHO is concerned that some countries have either not taken COVID-19 seriously enough, or have decided there's nothing they can do, as the number of countries reporting cases keeps rising, especially those with weaker health systems.

Apart from China, Kerkhove noted, those fundamental measures are being used in other countries like Singapore and Vietnam as well, stressing "that is something every country can do".

Even if confirmed cases were reported in a country, it doesn't mean clusters or large-scale outbreak would be certain to occur, Kerkhove said, adding that it doesn't mean the epidemic would go out of control either.