Slow WHO, poor coordination ‘to blame for pandemic’
New Delhi |
Updated on
Independent expert panel demands funds, efforts to stop Covid-19 spread A “toxic cocktail” of poor strategic choices, unwillingness to tackle inequalities, and an uncoordinated system allowed the Covid-19 pandemic to turn into a catastrophic human crisis, said an Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPPR).
The panel, established by the World Health Organization chief last year, was also critical of the WHO’s reaction time in calling a pandemic.
“The time it took from the reporting of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown origin in mid-late December 2019 to a Public Health Emergency of International Concern being declared was too long. February 2020 was also a lost month when many more countries could have taken steps to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and forestall the global health, social, and economic catastrophe that continues its grip,” the panel said.
World could have prevented COVID-19 catastrophe, says independent global panel freepressjournal.in - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from freepressjournal.in Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
COVID pandemic was preventable, independent panel set up by WHO finds Pandemic could have been declared Public Health Emergency of International Concern earlier, says panel
2021-05-12 17:51:35
GENEVA
The COVID-19 pandemic could have been averted and could have been declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern sooner than it was, an independent panel investigating the global pandemic said Wednesday.
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response called on the global community to take stronger action to end the COVID-19 pandemic and adopt reforms to prevent the next crisis. It is a disaster which our panel believes could have been averted, said co-chair Helen Clark, also the former prime minister of New Zealand.