Coronavirus: Is President Trump right to criticise the WHO? | BBC News:
April 15, 2020 - "US President Donald Trump has accused the World Health Organization (WHO) of mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus after it emerged in China. He added he would halt WHO funding while his administration reviewed its actions.... Trump has accused the WHO of failing to challenge China's early assertion there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus.
"China first informed the WHO of 'a pneumonia of an unknown cause,' on 31 December. On 5 January, the organisation said the information it had from China at that time showed there was 'no evidence of significant human-to-human transmission'. And on 14 January, it tweeted preliminary Chinese investigations had found 'no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission' of the new virus.
"The same day, however, the Wuhan Health Commission said the possibility of limited human-to-human transmission could not be excluded, although the risk of sustained transmission was low.... And on 22 January, the WHO, following a brief field visit to China, made a much clearer statement saying that human-to-human transmission was happening in Wuhan. It's worth adding that a full WHO delegation with international experts did not visit China until the second week of February....
"Trump said there was 'credible information to suspect human-to-human transmission in December', an apparent reference to a warning Taiwan says it sent to the WHO. Taiwanese scientists had visited Wuhan shortly after the virus first emerged. But the evidence published so far shows Taiwan's exchanges with the WHO did not mention human-to-human transmission.
'Taiwan is not one of the WHO's members as the territory is not recognised by the UN. The WHO says it has been sharing all information with Taiwanese health experts. But last month, after a senior WHO official refused to discuss Taiwan's response to the outbreak, the organisation was accused of being unduly influenced by China.
"'Constructive criticism of the WHO's effusive praise for China is warranted,' public health expert Lawrence Gostin told BBC News. 'The WHO should have been more critical and looked more closely at the situation.' But he added President Trump's remarks were an attempt to shift blame for the US's own lack of preparedness."
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52294623
April 15, 2020 - "US President Donald Trump has accused the World Health Organization (WHO) of mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus after it emerged in China. He added he would halt WHO funding while his administration reviewed its actions.... Trump has accused the WHO of failing to challenge China's early assertion there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus.
"China first informed the WHO of 'a pneumonia of an unknown cause,' on 31 December. On 5 January, the organisation said the information it had from China at that time showed there was 'no evidence of significant human-to-human transmission'. And on 14 January, it tweeted preliminary Chinese investigations had found 'no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission' of the new virus.
"The same day, however, the Wuhan Health Commission said the possibility of limited human-to-human transmission could not be excluded, although the risk of sustained transmission was low.... And on 22 January, the WHO, following a brief field visit to China, made a much clearer statement saying that human-to-human transmission was happening in Wuhan. It's worth adding that a full WHO delegation with international experts did not visit China until the second week of February....
"Trump said there was 'credible information to suspect human-to-human transmission in December', an apparent reference to a warning Taiwan says it sent to the WHO. Taiwanese scientists had visited Wuhan shortly after the virus first emerged. But the evidence published so far shows Taiwan's exchanges with the WHO did not mention human-to-human transmission.
'Taiwan is not one of the WHO's members as the territory is not recognised by the UN. The WHO says it has been sharing all information with Taiwanese health experts. But last month, after a senior WHO official refused to discuss Taiwan's response to the outbreak, the organisation was accused of being unduly influenced by China.
"'Constructive criticism of the WHO's effusive praise for China is warranted,' public health expert Lawrence Gostin told BBC News. 'The WHO should have been more critical and looked more closely at the situation.' But he added President Trump's remarks were an attempt to shift blame for the US's own lack of preparedness."
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52294623
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