An independent panel of international experts concluded that the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the World health Organization (WHO) could have acted more quickly in the early stages of the outbreak to avert a disaster.
The 148th WHO Executive Board meeting was held from January 18-26.
A report prepared by the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response noted that the assessment of the beginning of the outbreak crisis in China “suggested that there may have been early indications that would have allowed for more rapid action.
It is clear, the report says, that “local and central health authorities in China could have taken stronger public health measures last January. And all countries at risk of infection should immediately implement containment measures.
The report criticizes WHO for delaying the start of the crisis until January 22, 2020, when an emergency committee was convened, and for not declaring the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) until a week later, when it should have been placed on the highest alert level.
The report is scheduled to be presented to the WHO Executive Committee tomorrow.
The January 2021 report, which was released earlier by the small panel, contains a blunt statement that WHO is not doing enough to do what it is expected to do, and that the panel is “gravely limited” in its ability to validate outbreak reports, determine pandemic potential, and deploy support resources and contain the outbreak.
WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appointed former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Laibiria President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as co-chairs of the independent panel in July 2020, with 11 members, including experts from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Mexico, India, Colombia and China.
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