Background: The World Health Organisation published a global strategic response plan in February 2020 aiming to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 outbreak. It identified immediate activities required for global preparedness and response to the outbreak and set eight priority areas (‘pillars’) essential for scaling up country’s operational readiness and response. While a 6-month progress report on the implementation status of the global strategic plan in June 2020, there is yet limited granular information available on the extent of the national plan’s content and implementation, particularly in the Member States of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Objectives: To review preparedness and responsiveness towards COVID-19 outbreak in the States in the first phase of the pandemic and to document lessons learned for improving the ongoing response efforts and preparedness for future pandemics. Methodology: A rapid appraisal was conducted in June 2020 according to the WHO Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan and the accompanying Operational Planning Guidelines. The survey was administered to public health professionals or/and infectious disease expert in the states. The findings were cross triangulated with secondary data that was publicly available for each country. Results: The preparedness and response efforts of three Member States Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates were fully compliant with eleven of the eleven pillars (100%) of the modified strategic response measures, followed by, Kuwait (8), Oman and (8) Qatar (8).The component on conducting COVID-19 related research was the lowest performing across all the six states. Conclusions: All GCC states demonstrated an effective response to the pandemic and enhanced existing infrastructures and accelerated reforms that would have otherwise taken longer. The lessons learned through the early phase of the pandemic continue to steer the states in realigning their strategies and resetting their goals of controlling the outbreak particularly in the current context of vaccine introduction and increasing preparedness capacities for future pandemics.

Background: The World Health Organisation published a global strategic response plan in February 2020 aiming to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 outbreak. It identified immediate activities required for global preparedness and response to the outbreak and set eight priority areas (‘pillars’) essentia...