Calling COVID-19 a terrible wake-up call, an independent review panel says national and international leaders failed to respond adequately to the pandemic. Here, members of the Bavarian state Parliament sit among clear panels in Munich in October. (Peter Kneffel/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed dangerous failings on the national and international scale, according to an independent review ordered by the World Health Organization. The review found a range of problems, from a slow initial reaction to the coronavirus to weak links at every point in the chain of preparedness and response.
The coronavirus found a world vulnerable to the worst effects of a pandemic despite warnings from experts and a string of recent global health threats, from SARS and Ebola to Zika, the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response said.
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Independent Panel Recommends Voluntary Licensing And Tech Transfer For Producing COVID-19 Vaccines
Independent panel recommends voluntary licensing and tech transfer for producing COVID-19 vaccines
Geneva, May 12 (PTI) The WTO and the WHO should convene major vaccine-producing countries and manufacturers to agree to voluntary licensing and technology transfer for COVID-19 vaccines, a panel of experts recommended on Wednesday, amidst a proposal by India and South Africa for a temporary waiver of certain provisions from TRIPS agreement to deal with the raging pandemic.
In October 2020, India and South Africa submitted a proposal suggesting a waiver for all WTO members on the implementation of certain provisions of the TRIPS agreement in relation to the prevention, containment or treatment of COVID-19.
(Bloomberg) The European Union’s executive arm asked the bloc’s 27 member states to ban all non-essential travel to and from India. The World Health Organization should be overhauled and given more authority to investigate global disease threats, a new report recommended. A full public inquiry will be launched next spring into how the U.K. government handled the pandemic, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced. Greece plans to ease most remaining restrictions. Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s vaccine is wiping out Covid-19 among health workers in Indonesia, an encouraging sign for developing countries reliant on the Chinese shot, which performed worse than Western alternatives in clinical trials. Seychelles President Wavel Ramkalawan said vaccines that have been widely administered to the nation’s population are working, even as the Indian Ocean archipelago experiences a surge in cases. Key Developments Global Tracker: Cases top 159.7 million; deaths exceed 3.3 million Vaccine Tracker:
A new global system should be set up to respond faster to disease outbreaks to help ensure no future virus causes a pandemic as devastating as COVID-19, an independent World Health Organization review panel said on Wednesday.
Covid-19 pandemic was preventable, report saysInternational 2021-05-13, by Editor Comments Off 5
The Covid-19 pandemic was preventable, an independent review panel has said.
The panel, set up by the World Health Organization, said the combined response of the WHO and global governments was a “toxic cocktail”.
The WHO should have declared a global emergency earlier than it did, its report said, adding that without urgent change the world was vulnerable to another major disease outbreak.
More than 3.3 million people around the world have now died of Covid.
While the US and Europe are beginning to ease restrictions and resume some aspects of pre-pandemic life, the virus is still devastating parts of Asia.