UPDATE 1-How can we stop the next pandemic? Here s what a WHO panel recommends Reuters 2 hrs ago Calls for new global system to investigate disease outbreaks Says World Health Organization should be empowered to probe Says WHO should have declared emergency sooner, limited travel Urges WHO, WTO to hold talks on voluntary licensing of vaccines (Adds reaction from WTO head, expert)
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, May 12 (Reuters) - A new global system should be set up to respond faster to disease outbreaks, which could ensure that no future virus causes a pandemic as devastating as COVID-19, an independent World Health Organization review panel said on Wednesday.
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COVID-19: Pandemic was preventable disaster and declaring emergency earlier could have saved 3.4 million lives - report
The World Health Organisation should have declared a global emergency earlier than 30 January 2020 and recommended travel restrictions to prevent the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, a panel has said.
A report issued by an independent panel into the handling of the pandemic has also found the month of February last year was lost as countries failed to take strong measures to halt the spread of the virus.
It found the pandemic was a preventable disaster that could have saved 3.4 million lives.
Geneva: A new global system should be set up to respond faster to disease outbreaks, which could ensure that no future virus causes a pandemic as devastating as COVID-19, an independent World Health Organisation review panel said on Wednesday.
The experts found crucial flaws in the global response in early 2020 - including a delay in declaring an emergency, a failure to impose travel restrictions and an entire “lost month” when countries neglected to respond to warnings - that let the virus quickly spread into a catastrophic pandemic.
To address those problems, the WHO should be given the power to send investigators swiftly to chase down new disease outbreaks, and to publish their full findings without delay.
Read more about Pandemic could have been prevented: Expert panel on WHO s handling of Covid on Business Standard. Independent panel s report says WHO should have declared emergency sooner, limited travel; calls for new global system to investigate disease outbreaks
The World Health Organisation should have declared a global emergency earlier than 30 January 2020 and recommended travel restrictions to prevent the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, a panel has said.