WHO advises 8 weeks of safe sex after return from Zika areas

Pedestrians walk across a road next to an 18-metre pink condom covering the Obelisk situated in Sydney's Hyde Park (Copyright Reuters 2016)

GENEVA – People returning from areas with transmission of the Zika virus should follow safer sex practices or abstain from sex for at least eight weeks, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, doubling the four weeks it had previously recommended.

Women wanting to get pregnant should wait for six months if their male partner had symptoms of the virus, the WHO's revised guidance said.