The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that there might never be a “silver bullet” for the new coronavirus, despite the rush to discover effective vaccines, AFP reported.

The WHO urged governments and citizens to focus on doing the known basics, such as testing, contact tracing, maintaining physical distance and wearing a mask in order to suppress the pandemic.

“We all hope to have a number of effective vaccines that can help prevent people from infection,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference. “However, there's no silver bullet at the moment — and there might never be.

“For now, stopping outbreaks comes down to the basics of public health and disease control. Do it all."