The World Health Organization’s initial response to COVID-19

The World Health Organization’s response , I wonder what was going on in their minds?
On January 22 and 23 The meeting of the Emergency Committee convened by the WHO Director-General under the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005). The topic was corona virus in the People Republic of China with exportations reported in Republic of Korea, Japan, Thailand and Singapore.
The committee report is available online but there is no mention of what the exportations to these countries mean. The public report mentioned 577 cases with a death rate of 4% in China in Wuhan and outside of Wuhan and in the Hubei province but again no mention of disease statistics about the concerned countries in attendance. The Chinese government reported closure of public transportation systems as a measure of strong containment.
In a bizarre statement, the committee reported that it could not decide if this constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) given its ‘restrictive and binary nature’. There is no clear explanation to the term ‘restrictive and binary’ as to the justification to their decision. The committee praised the Chinese for their containment efforts and decided to hold off and reconvene a week later.
Finally, a week later, on January 30, The World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) . By then the number of cases in China were reported at 10,000 with 200 deaths. In one month the number had nearly exceeded all the SARS and MERS cases of the world since 2002 and 2012 respectively.
A week after the PHEIC declaration by WHO , the young doctor Li Wenliang who had hopelessly sounded the alarm on the disease in December loses his life to COVID-19 becoming the first health care provider casualty of thousands more to come.
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