GENEVA (Reuters) – An independent group said on Monday that Chinese officials could have implemented stronger public health measures in January to curb the initial outbreak of COVID-19 and criticized the World Health Organization (WHO) for failing to do so. declare an international emergency by January 30.
Experts reviewing the global treatment of the pandemic, led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, called for reforms at the UN agency based in Geneva. Its interim report was published hours after the WHO’s maximum emergency. Expert Mike Ryan said global deaths from COVID-19 were expected to exceed 100,000 a week “very soon.”
“What is clear to the group is that public health measures could have been applied more forcefully by local and national health authorities in China in January,” the report said, referring to the initial outbreak of the new disease in the central city of Wuhan, Hubei Province.
As evidence of human-to-human transmission emerged, “in too many countries, this signal was ignored,” he added.
Specifically, he wondered why the WHO Emergency Committee did not meet until the third week of January and did not declare an international emergency until its second meeting on 30 January.
Although the term pandemic is not used or defined in the International Health Regulations (2005), its use serves to focus attention on the severity of a health event. It was not until March 11 that the WHO used the term, ”the report said.
“The global pandemic alert system is not suitable for the purpose,” he said. “The World Health Organization has no power to do the job.”
Under President Donald Trump, the United States has accused the WHO of “focusing on China,” which the agency denies. European countries led by France and Germany have pushed to address WHO’s shortcomings in funding, governance and legal competencies.
The group called for a “global recovery” and said it would make recommendations in a final report to the health ministers of the 194 WHO member states in May.
Reports by Stephanie Nebehay; Edited by Josephine Mason and Alex Richardson