Boris Johnson promises a public inquiry into the pandemic, but our scientific community could provide more honest answers
Paramedics unload a patient from an ambulance outside the Royal London Hospital in January 2021, at the peak of the UKâs second wave. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA
Paramedics unload a patient from an ambulance outside the Royal London Hospital in January 2021, at the peak of the UKâs second wave. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA
Thu 13 May 2021 09.00 EDT
Last modified on Thu 13 May 2021 09.50 EDT
Boris Johnsonâs promise of a public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic is welcome, but tardy and vague. It is scarcely surprising that the government has been dragging its feet, for no independent, objective and credible inquiry could be anything but devastating about the political handling of the crisis. The long and lethal litany of blunders and cover-ups presented in Jonathan Calvert and George Arbuthnottâs book Failures of State beggar
CCP Virus Pandemic Was ‘Preventable Disaster’ and ‘Terrible Wake-up Call’: WHO-Commissioned Panel
A panel of independent experts commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a scathing rebuke of the global reaction to COVID-19, calling the outbreak a “preventable disaster” and a “terrible wake-up call” that exposed weak links along the entire chain of pandemic preparation and response.
In a report issued Wednesday (pdf), the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response blamed countries worldwide for their sluggish response to the outbreak of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, saying most waited to see how the virus was spreading until it was too late to contain it, leading to catastrophic results.
Author Professor of International Health, Burnet Institute
The panel, co-chaired by former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, criticises the World Health Organization (WHO) for its tardy actions during the first months of 2020.
The WHO was slow to warn of person-to-person transmission after it first received this information in Wuhan, China, in early January.
And it was slow to declare a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), which it did on January 30.
The WHO also opposed international travel restrictions that, if implemented earlier, might have slowed the international spread of the virus. By the time the PHEIC was declared, COVID-19 had spread to 18 countries outside China.
Over 360,000 fresh cases reported India reported 362,727 fresh coronavirus infections on Thursday, taking the cumulative caseload to 23.7 million, according to central health ministry data. The country saw 4,120 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 258,317. The active caseload is at 3.7 million, while the total recoveries have surged to 19.7 million. As many as 17.7 million shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, 1.8 million were given on Wednesday.
Vaccine inequity deepens in the 18-44 age group Seven states account for almost 85 per cent of all vaccine doses administered to those in the 18-44 age group so far, which underlines the lack of a transparent formula for allocation and raises critical questions of vaccine equity, a report in The Indian Express said. The data contradicts assurances given by the Modi government to the Supreme Court that to ensure equity, it has worked with private manu