The World Health Organization took too long to declare Covid-19 a public-health emergency, a U.N. review board found, while providing little criticism of China
The World Health Organization should be given the power to swiftly investigate threatening pathogens in any country, a review board established by the United Nations agency’s leadership said, saying the agency took too long to declare Covid-19 a public-health emergency in early 2020.
The report, which was conducted by a panel of politicians and experts established by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus with the aim of examining early efforts to halt the pandemic, provided little criticism of China’s government orwho raised the alarm about the spread of Covid-19 cases in late 2019.
It didn’t discuss in detail the WHO’s advice in early 2020 that countries not close borders or mandate the wearing masks—measures that are now seen as key steps taken by countries that have successfully managed the disease. It mainly looked at the rules for disease reporting and epidemic response under which the WHO operates.
But the report did castigate other governments, without naming them, for having “devalued science” and said wealthy nations hadn’t done enough to provide vaccines for the developing world. The board—the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response—is meant to be the U.N.’s chief effort to provide accountability for the failures that allowed the virus to slip from China and spread around the world. The panel, led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and ex-Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was set up by Dr. Tedros last year.
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