The World Health Organization was alerted to the coronavirus crisis by its own office in China, and not by the local authorities, according to reports, as worldwide cases of Covid-19 passed 11 million and infections in the US rose by another 53,000.
The UN health body has been accused by US president Donald Trump of failing to provide the information needed to stem the pandemic and of being complacent towards Beijing, charges it denies.
Partly in response to that criticism, it published on 9 April an initial timeline of its communications in which it said that the Wuhan municipal health commission had reported cases of pneumonia on the final day of 2019. The UN health agency did not however specify who had notified it.
But in a new chronology published this week by the Geneva-based institution, it indicates that the WHO office in China notified its regional point of contact on 31 December of a case of “viral pneumonia” after having found a declaration for the media on a Wuhan health commission website on the issue.
According to Agence France-Presse, WHO’s epidemic information service picked up another news report on the same day transmitted by the international epidemiological surveillance network ProMed – based in the United States – about the same group of cases of pneumonia from unknown causes in Wuhan.
WHO then asked the Chinese authorities on two occasions, on 1 January and 2 January, for information about these cases. This information was provided on 3 January.
Trump has announced that his country, the main financial contributor to WHO, will sever ties with the WHO, which he accuses of being too close to China and of having poorly managed the pandemic. The WHO denies any complacency toward China.
According to Johns Hopkins University, there are now 11 million confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide. It has claimed the lives of more than 524,000 people.
The United States marked the beginning of the Fourth of July holiday weekend with another huge rise in coronavirus cases.
Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee all set single-day records for new cases on Friday, according to Reuters. The daily US tally stood at 53,483 late Friday, below the previous day’s record of 55,405. The country has recorded almost 2.8 million cases.
Brazil reported 1,290 more deaths and registered 42,223 new cases on Friday. It remains the second-worst in terms of case numbers in the world with more than 1.5 million, behind the US.
Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr, has tested positive for the virus, US media have reported. The former Fox News presenter is a key fundraiser for the president’s re-election campaign and is the latest person in the Trump circle to become infected. She was reportedly asymptomatic.
Hairdressing salons and wedding venues opened for business in England the minute the government’s deadline passed at midnight on Friday.
Salaon have been shut for months but were allowed to open from Saturday. Pubs and restaurants in England will be allowed to open from 6am local time, with Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, warning people to behave and “not to blow it”.
Sandra Jacobs had her hair cut at a salon in Camden in north London, telling reporters that it was “such a relief, I can’t tell you… My hair was everywhere. I’d been wearing hats to hide it”.
Portugal’s government has expressed anger that it has been left off the list of countries designated safe for English holidaymakers to travel to when the so-called “air bridges” open across Europe next week.
The outbreak in the state of Victoria has divided Australia. After days when the numbers of new cases did not rise very sharply, the state recorded its highest single daily total since 28 March with 108 new infections.
source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/04/global-report-who-changes-timeline-on-virus-alert-as-cases-top-11m
0 تعليقات