China and the World Health Organization (WHO) could have acted faster and stronger to mark the start of the Covid-19 revolution, an independent review panel said Monday .
In its second interim report, the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response in Switzerland concluded that Beijing could have been stronger in enforcing public health measures when things went awry. first discovered in Wuhan city, Hubei province.
“What is clear to the panel is that public health measures could be more strongly implemented by local and national health authorities in China in January (2020),” the report said.
The first cases occurred in Wuhan between December 12 and December 29, 2019 according to the city authorities. The cases were reported to WHO until December 31. By the time Wuhan was locked up on January 23, 2020 the virus had spread to Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the United States.
Several countries, mostly the U.S. and Australia, have claimed that Beijing has reduced the severity of the uprising at an early stage, and prevented a response effective until it was too late.
WHO criticism: The independent panel, co-chaired by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, criticized WHO for the delay in sounding the warning, and called for group reforms and DA.
Despite being alerted to the cases before the end of December, 2019 WHO did not convene its emergency committee until January 22, 2020 – and then wait until January 30 before declaring an international emergency.
“It is not clear why the committee did not meet until the third week of January, and it is not clear why they were unable to agree on the declaration of a public health emergency of international concern when it was first convened. , “the report said.
The report also said that WHO did not announce the pandemic until March 11, 2020 after some health experts and media outlets began adopting the term. By that time, there were already 118,000 cases and more than 4,000 deaths worldwide.
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