China and the World health Organization (WHO) could have acted more quickly in the early stages of the outbreak to avert a disaster, a group of independent experts investigating global pandemic preparedness have concluded.
The Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response, set up by the WHO last year, will issue its second report on the outbreak on the 19th. AFP was told in advance that the WHO report showed that the assessment of the beginning of the pandemic crisis in China “showed that there may have been early signs at that time that would have allowed relatively rapid action to be taken.
The team’s second report states that all countries at risk of infection should implement immediate containment measures. The report is scheduled to be presented to the WHO Executive Board on the 19th.
The report says that it is clear that “local and central health authorities in China could have taken stronger public health measures during the third week of January last year. “
The report also criticizes WHO for delaying for several days at the beginning of the crisis, not convening an emergency committee until January 22, 2020; and for not declaring the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) until a week later, when it should have been put on the highest alert level. But the best time to prevent the epidemic has been missed.
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