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Coronavirus: China calls for revisions to reports at WHO, defends early response
- Two expert reviews suggested shortcomings in Beijing’s actions after health authorities reported first cases in Wuhan
- But China tells executive board the reports made statements that were inconsistent with the facts
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Beijing has called for revisions to two reports presented at the World Health Organization this week, as the UN body hears expert reviews of the international response to Covid-19 over a year after it was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
The reports, presented at an ongoing meeting of the WHO’s executive board, one of its decision-making arms, suggested shortcomings in China’s early response to Covid-19 after Wuhan health authorities flagged a mysterious illness at the end of 2019.
Beijing has for months stridently defended its initial response to the virus and sought to present itself as a global model for Covid-19 containment. The country is one of a handful that have largely brought local transmission under control, as the number of cases worldwide has topped 96 million.
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But experts have long criticised a three-week period from when the illness was first reported at the end of December to Beijing’s confirmation that it was spreading between people, saying this lag may have fuelled the international spread.
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WHO health experts arrive in Covid-19 epicentre Wuhan to investigate origins of coronavirus
WHO health experts arrive in Covid-19 epicentre Wuhan to investigate origins of coronavirus
An independent panel led by former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf found that “public health measures could have been applied more forcefully by local and national health authorities in China in January”.
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