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The WHO's role in the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic

Firebat said:
WHO: Initial warnings not taken seriously enough

Some countries suffering serious epidemics of the coronavirus did not take initial warnings from the World Health Organization seriously enough, the agency says.

Following allegations from the US that it has handled the pandemic badly, the WHO has reminded countries that in mid-January it warned all member states of the virus and by the end of that month had declared an international health emergency.

Throughout February, it says, it called on governments to begin rigorous testing and quarantining.

Asked about the very large outbreaks in the US and Brazil, a WHO spokeswoman said those warnings had not been seen as serious, reports Imogen Foulkes for BBC News in Geneva.

One reason, the spokeswoman said, was that many countries in the Americas and Europe had no memory of the damage a new infectious disease can do.

In Africa, which does have recent experience, she said countries knew that early intervention was effective and this could be why cases there were not rising so fast.
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What a lie. WHO were literally covering up for China and now trying to blame other countries for failure. Like seriously is this organization can get any more pathetic? First they were urging very countries not to put travel ban on China, then were saying human-to-human transmission is negative, now this blame game.

I completely support Trump for not funding this pathetic organization that have created a monster today.
 
Virus may never be eradicated – WHO

The coronavirus that causes Covid-19 could become endemic like HIV, the World Health Organization has said, warning against any attempt to predict how long it would keep circulating and calling for a “massive effort” to counter it. The organisation’s emergencies expert, Mike Ryan, said:

It is important to put this on the table: This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities, and this virus may never go away.

I think it is important we are realistic and I don’t think anyone can predict when this disease will disappear. I think there are no promises in this and there are no dates. This disease may settle into a long problem, or it may not be.

However, he said the world had some control over how it copes with the disease, although this would take a “massive effort” even if a vaccine was found – a prospect he described as a “massive moonshot”.

More than 100 potential vaccines are being developed, including several in clinical trials, but experts have underscored the difficulties of finding vaccines that are effective against coronaviruses.

Ryan noted that vaccines exist for other illnesses, such as measles, that have not been eliminated.
 
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that Covid-19 may be here to stay.

"This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities and this virus may never go away," Michael Ryan, the WHO's emergencies director, told a virtual press conference in Geneva.

"HIV has not gone away - but we have come to terms with the virus."

He said that, without a vaccine, it could take years for the population to build up sufficient levels of immunity to the virus. There are many attempts being carried out around the world to develop a vaccine but experts say there is a risk that one may never be created.

Meanwhile, as countries across the globe start easing lockdown measures, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the process could trigger new waves of infections.

Ryan said there was lots of "magical thinking" surrounding countries opening back up. He added that there was a "long, long way to go" on the path to returning to normal.
 
Saj said:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that Covid-19 may be here to stay.

"This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities and this virus may never go away," Michael Ryan, the WHO's emergencies director, told a virtual press conference in Geneva.

"HIV has not gone away - but we have come to terms with the virus."

He said that, without a vaccine, it could take years for the population to build up sufficient levels of immunity to the virus. There are many attempts being carried out around the world to develop a vaccine but experts say there is a risk that one may never be created.

Meanwhile, as countries across the globe start easing lockdown measures, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the process could trigger new waves of infections.

Ryan said there was lots of "magical thinking" surrounding countries opening back up. He added that there was a "long, long way to go" on the path to returning to normal.
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Please tell us what we don't know, what a useless organization. How can these people justify their salaries?
 
King-Misbah said:
Please tell us what we don't know, what a useless organization. How can these people justify their salaries?
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whats funny is how the MSM still gives them big headlines. WHO has messed it up big time and now they just come up with these useless statements. Never have they come up with a solution.
 
King-Misbah said:
Please tell us what we don't know, what a useless organization. How can these people justify their salaries?
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What is their role exactly? If they can't play an active part in this pandemic situation, when they will?
 
TAIPEI (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) has “forgotten” its professionalism and neutrality in locking Taiwan out of the body for political reasons, Taiwan Vice President Chen Chien-jen said on Thursday.

Taiwan says China and the WHO have conspired for political purposes to keep it out of key meetings, that the WHO has not responded to requests for coronavirus information and has misreported the number of its infections.

The WHO and China have strongly dispute the accusations, saying Taiwan has been given all the help it needed, but that only China, which claims democratic Taiwan as one of its provinces, has the right to fully represent it in the WHO.

Chen, a U.S.-trained epidemiologist, said the WHO had been putting politics above health.

“Unfortunately, because of political reasons, Taiwan’s 23 million people have become orphans in the global health system,” he told reporters at the presidential office in Taipei.

“The WHO pays too much attention to politics and has forgotten their professionalism and neutrality. This is quite regrettable.”

While the WHO has done good work and contributed to world health in the past, its record on the virus has not been as good, Chen added.

“On the Wuhan pneumonia, we mostly criticise them for acting too slowly,” he said, referring to the central Chinese city where the virus first emerged late last year, before spreading worldwide to infect 4.3 million people and kill 295,000.

Chen, who was Taiwan’s health minister during the 2002-2003 SARS crisis, said the world needed to be cautious with China’s virus numbers, and urged Beijing to be more transparent.

He wished China well in its fight, however.

“Here I give my blessings to them and hope that they can contain the Wuhan pneumonia as early as possible and avoid a second wave,” said Chen, who leaves office when President Tsai Ing-wen is sworn in for her second term next week.

Taiwan has lobbied to attend next week’s meeting of the WHO’s decision-making World Health Assembly as an observer, but China objects.

In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Taiwan’s basis for participation in the WHO was damaged by the refusal of its ruling Democratic Progressive Party to recognise that the island is part of China.

There is no legal basis for a “non-sovereign region” to participate as an observer, Zhao added.

The United States has repeatedly clashed with China over its refusal to allow Taiwan full access to the body, helping to further fuel tension between Washington and Beijing.

Taiwan’s tally of 440 virus infections and seven deaths is far lower than many of its neighbours, thanks to early and effective prevention work and an efficient public health system.
 
Itachi said:
What is their role exactly? If they can't play an active part in this pandemic situation, when they will?
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As Indians for us WHO played an active role in abolishing polio, that’s why I’m extremely disappointed by their current director and hope he jus resigns after the screwups.
 
Dr David Nabarro, the World Health Organization's special envoy for Covid-19, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the UK needs to be "very careful" in opening up from lockdown as it still has "a lot of virus around".

"As soon as movement does restart all over the country there could well be many, many outbreaks," he said.

He said the nation faces a "massive task" to recruit and train the thousands of contact tracers who will be needed to implement an effective test, trace and isolate strategy.

"That’s been shown in other countries to be the key to living with this virus as a constant threat, and getting on with life," he said. "It’s not second waves, it’s a constant threat."

Capacity to test, trace and isolate needs to be in place before lockdowns are lifted, he said. "Lockdown is freezing the virus in place and giving us time to get ready so when we release the lockdown we are better prepared."
 
Trump says considering restoration of some funding to WHO

US President Donald Trump said his administration was considering numerous proposals about the World Health Organization, including one in which Washington would pay about 10 percent of its former level.

In a posting on Twitter, Trump underscored that no final decision had been made and that US funding for the global health agency remained frozen.

Trump suspended US contributions to the WHO on April 14, accusing it of promoting China's "disinformation" about the coronavirus outbreak and saying his administration would launch a review of the organization.

WHO officials denied the claims and China has insisted it was transparent and open.
 
WHO 'sounded alarm early' on pandemic, its chief says

The WHO “sounded the alarm early” to warn the world about the coronavirus, but its handling of the pandemic will be independently reviewed, its chief has said.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus defended the WHO’s response to the pandemic, arguing it gave countries ample warning, guidance and advice.

"The WHO sounded the alarm early, and we sounded it often," Dr Tedros said in a speech at the World Health Assembly.

But he welcomed a proposed resolution, spearheaded by the EU, on reviewing the WHO’s response, saying it should involve “all actors, in good faith”.

Acknowledging there were “lessons to learn”, Dr Tedros said he would launch an independent inquiry of the WHO's response as soon as possible.

"I will initiate an independent evaluation at the earliest appropriate moment to review experience gained and lessons learned and to make recommendations to improve national and global pandemic preparedness and response," Dr Tedros said.
 
Firebat said:
WHO 'sounded alarm early' on pandemic, its chief says

The WHO “sounded the alarm early” to warn the world about the coronavirus, but its handling of the pandemic will be independently reviewed, its chief has said.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus defended the WHO’s response to the pandemic, arguing it gave countries ample warning, guidance and advice.

"The WHO sounded the alarm early, and we sounded it often," Dr Tedros said in a speech at the World Health Assembly.

But he welcomed a proposed resolution, spearheaded by the EU, on reviewing the WHO’s response, saying it should involve “all actors, in good faith”.

Acknowledging there were “lessons to learn”, Dr Tedros said he would launch an independent inquiry of the WHO's response as soon as possible.

"I will initiate an independent evaluation at the earliest appropriate moment to review experience gained and lessons learned and to make recommendations to improve national and global pandemic preparedness and response," Dr Tedros said.
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Lie after Lie. This organization just need to abolished for good.

Did they forgot how they tried to downplay by saying there is no proof of human to human transfer of virus?
What makes me more angry is that they ignored email from Taiwan who successfully countered the pandemic.
 
US President Donald Trump has sent a letter to the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) threatening to pull US funding permanently over Covid-19.

The letter outlines a 30-day deadline for the body to commit to "substantive improvements" or risk losing millions and US membership altogether.

Addressed to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, it criticises stages of the body's response since December.

Earlier in the day, Mr Trump called the UN's health body a "puppet of China".

The president, who faces re-election this year and has himself been criticised for his handling of the pandemic, has blamed China for trying to cover up the outbreak and has accused the WHO of failing to hold Beijing to account.

The US has more than 1.5 million of the world's 4.8 million confirmed cases of coronavirus so far, with more than 90,000 deaths.

Mr Trump's ultimatum also comes at a time of pressure for the WHO.

On Monday Dr Tedros backed a review of the agency's handling of the pandemic. He said an independent evaluation would take place "at the earliest appropriate moment".

What does the letter say?
Mr Trump published the letter on Twitter on Monday night, following a day of heavy US criticism of the health agency.

US Health Secretary Alex Azar earlier spoke at the UN's World Health Assembly and accused the WHO of letting Covid-19 spin "out of control" at the cost of "many lives".

In his letter to Dr Tedros, the US president accuses the WHO of having an "alarming lack of independence" from China.

Among his assertions, Mr Trump accuses the agency of having "consistently ignored" what he describes as "credible reports" of the virus spreading in Wuhan at the start of December or even earlier.

Also in the letter, Mr Trump:

Cites reports the WHO delayed an emergency declaration under pressure from President Xi Jinping
Criticises the agency's praise of China's "transparency" amid reports of censorship and lack of international cooperation
Accuses the WHO of failing to comment on virus-related racial discrimination allegedly happening within China
Says Dr Tedros could have saved "many lives" if he had acted more like Dr Harlem Brundtland, the WHO chief during the Sars outbreak
Mr Trump, in his conclusion, alleges that "repeated missteps" by Dr Tedros and the WHO had been "extremely costly for the world".

"The only way forward for the World Health Organization is if it can actually demonstrate independence from China," his letter says.

Mr Trump then calls for the organisation to commit to "major substantive improvements" within 30 days, without clarifying what this means.

Without these changes, the president says, the US will make his temporary freeze of US funding permanent and "reconsider our membership in the organisation" altogether.

Mr Trump announced the halting of US payments last month. The country is one of the biggest contributors to the WHO, accounting for just less than 15% of its funding in the past financial year.

The ultimatum letter comes in the midst of the UN's World Health Assembly - an annual meeting involving 194 member states reviewing the work of the UN's health agency.

So far the virtual forum has been dominated by health leaders clashing over the WHO's role, as well as pushes for an inquiry into how they handled the pandemic.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52718309
 
EU backs WHO after Trump pull-out threat

The European Union has backed the World Health Organization and multilateral efforts to fight the coronavirus after Trump threatened to quit the global agency.

Turkey imposed the country's first travel ban across 31 provinces to stem the spread of the virus and later lifted some of them

"This is the time for solidarity, not the time for finger pointing or for undermining multilateral cooperation," European foreign affairs spokeswoman Virginie Battu-Henriksson told reporters.

The EU has sponsored a motion at Tuesday's session of the WHO's annual assembly to urge an "impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation" of the international response to the pandemic.
 
World Health Organization members agree response probe

World Health Organization (WHO) member states have agreed to set up an independent inquiry into the global response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The resolution, approved without objection by the WHO's 194-member annual assembly meeting virtually in Geneva, also allows for the inquiry to look into the health body's own role.

The United States in particular has been highly critical of its response.

The EU presented the resolution on behalf of 100 nations.

What is in the resolution?
It calls for an "impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation" of the international response.

This will also focus on the WHO's "timelines pertaining to the Covid-19 pandemic". The body has faced criticism that it was late to declare a health emergency.

It also calls for the world to ensure "transparent, equitable and timely access" to any treatments or vaccines, and pushes for the WHO to investigate the "source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population".

"As I see no requests for the floor, I take it that there is no objection and the resolution is therefore adopted," declared the assembly's president, Keva Bain, the Bahamas ambassador.

Why is the WHO under pressure?
President Donald Trump has labelled the organisation a "puppet" of China and suspended funding for the WHO. The US is the largest donor.

He has also accused China of trying to cover up the outbreak - something it strongly rejects - and said the WHO had failed to hold Beijing to account.

US Health Secretary Alex Azar was scathing in his address to the assembly on Monday.

"We must be frank about one of the primary reasons this outbreak spun out of control: there was a failure by this organisation to obtain the information that the world needed, and that failure cost many lives," he said.

President Trump faces re-election this year and opponents see his criticism as an attempt to deflect blame for his handling of the pandemic in the US, which has the highest number of cases, and deaths, which passed 90,000 on Monday.

However, the European Union, along with countries including the UK, Australia and New Zealand, had also been pushing for an inquiry into how the pandemic was handled.

EU spokeswoman Virginie Battu-Henriksson said that several key questions needed to be answered as part of any review.

"How did this pandemic spread? What is the epidemiology behind it? All this is absolutely crucial for us going forward to avoid another pandemic of this kind," she said.

But she added that now was not the time for "any sort of blame game".

What has the WHO said?
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had already agreed to a review of the agency's handling of the pandemic, while dismissing suggestions it needed a far-reaching overhaul.

Dr Tedros said an independent evaluation, which would look at what lessons could be learned and put forward any recommendations, would take place "at the earliest opportunity".

He called for the WHO, among other organisations, to be strengthened.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-52726017
 
Russia denounces Trump's WHO threat

Russia has denounced President Donald Trump's threat to pull the US out of the World Health Organization (WHO) over its handling of the pandemic.

The US president has blamed China for trying to cover up the outbreak and accused the WHO, the UN's health agency, of failing to hold Beijing to account.

"Yes there are opportunities to improve [the work of the health agency]," Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, told a news agency.

"But we are against breaking everything that is there for the sake of one state's political or geopolitical preferences."

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has already agreed to a review into the global response to the pandemic.
 
Rich world needs to pay attention to impact on poor - WHO

The pandemic is having an enormous impact on poorer countries and rich countries need to pay attention, the World Health Organization (WHO)'s special envoy on Covid-19, David Nabarro, has told the BBC.

"On the one hand, it's a disease that is associated with serious risks of death, and at the same time poorer countries just don't have the resources, both in terms of their health services, but also in terms of any kind of buffer," he said.

As a result, he added, people's livelihoods were disappearing overnight.

"What's remarkable is the speed with which people just experience extreme poverty when they're asked to reduce economic activity, so as to limit the spread of the virus.

"I've heard of communities all over Asia, as well as in Africa and Latin America where that level of extreme hunger has built up fast, and I suppose what we are going to see when the story of the pandemic is written [is] that this leads to increases in levels of poverty and malnutrition like we've not seen for many decades."
 
Australia's former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has told the BBC he does not believe the World Health Organization (WHO) should be investigating its own response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The UN agency has drawn criticism suggesting it did not take action early enough to contain the outbreak.

On Tuesday, WHO member states agreed at the body's annual meeting that there should be an "impartial, independent and comprehensive" probe into the WHO's actions during the outbreak.

“Overall, I don’t think it’s right to have Caesar judging Caesar,” said Mr Rudd. "The alternative approach, I think, is for someone like the United Nations Secretary General to empanel a high-level panel of scientists, some from China, drawn also from the rest of the world, to get to the absolute scientific answers.”
 
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States called on the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday to begin work immediately on investigating the source of the novel coronavirus, as well as its handling of the response to the pandemic.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has accused the agency of being “China centric”, threatened in a tweeted letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday to permanently halt funding if the WHO did not commit to improvements within 30 days, and to reconsider his country’s membership of the agency.

More than 5.12 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported worldwide, including 332,0526 deaths, since the virus emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, according to the latest Reuters tally.

The WHO’s executive board of 34 member states, including the United States, held a three-hour session on Friday.

Admiral Brett P. Giroir, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health, told the board in a written statement: “As President Trump just made clear in his May 18 letter to Director-General Tedros, there is no time to waste to begin on the reforms needed to ensure such a pandemic never happens again.

“We applaud the call for an impartial, independent, and comprehensive review to be undertaken in consultation with Member States and urge that work begin now,” he said.

Giroir was referring to a resolution presented by the European Union that was unanimously adopted by the WHO’s annual ministerial assembly of 194 states on Tuesday that called for a thorough evaluation “at the earliest appropriate moment”.

“This review will ensure we have a complete and transparent understanding of the source, timeline of events, and decision-making process for the WHO’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

When the WHO Assembly resumes in the autumn, it must address the outcome of the review process, reforms to strengthen the WHO, “including the ability of Taiwan to participate as an observer”, Giroir added.

Taiwan lobbied hard to be included as an observer at the two-day assembly and received strong support from the United States, Japan and others, but says it was not invited due to opposition from China. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province with no right to the trappings of a sovereign state.

Tedros has always promised a post-pandemic review and “accountability”.

In remarks to the board, Tedros said that the WHO had worked non-stop since the coronavirus emerged, informing all member states of its evolution and providing technical advice.

“WHO has worked day and night to coordinate the global response at all three levels of the organisation, providing technical advice, catalysing political solidarity, mobilising resources, coordinating resources and much more,” he said.

“So far almost $800 million has been pledged or received towards WHO’s appeal for COVID-19 programmes, leaving a gap of just over $900 million,” he said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ndemic-starts-now-seeks-reforms-idUSKBN22Y1JI
 
WHO warns of 'second peak' in areas where Covid-19 is declining

Countries where coronavirus infections are declining could still face an “immediate second peak” if they let up too soon on measures to halt the outbreak, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

“When we speak about a second wave classically, what we often mean is there will be a first wave of the disease by itself, and then it recurs months later. And that may be a reality for many countries in a number of months’ time,” WHO emergencies head Dr Mike Ryan said.
 
India backs hydroxychloroquine for virus prevention

India's top biomedical research body backed the use of the anti-malarial hydroxychloroquine as a preventive against coronavirus, after the WHO suspended clinical trials of the drug over safety concerns.

Observational and case control studies in India showed there were "no major side effects" of taking the drug as a prophylactic, ICMR Director-General Balram Bhargava said. Cases of nausea, vomiting and heart palpitations were noted, he added.

The body said all healthcare workers in hospitals and some frontline personnel could now take the drug for up to several weeks under strict medical supervision.

"We recommended that for prophylaxis, it should be continued, because there is no harm. Benefit may be there," Bhargava told reporters.
 
We must be prepared for new outbreaks - WHO special envoy

Coronavirus "has not gone away", and as people's movements increase we have to be prepared "for new outbreaks to build up very quickly", the World Health Organization's special envoy for Covid-19 has said.

Dr David Nabarro told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that as lockdown restrictions are eased, people will have to continue to practice physical distancing as much as they can, and isolate straight away if they get ill.
 
Thirty-seven countries and the WHO have appealed for common ownership of vaccines, medicines and diagnostic tools to tackle the global coronavirus pandemic, taking aim at patent laws they fear could become a barrier to sharing crucial supplies.

While the push by mostly developing nations, called the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool, won praise from groups including Doctors Without Borders, a drug industry alliance questioned if the effort to pool intellectual property would really broaden access to medicines.

Developing and some small nations fear rich countries pumping resources into finding vaccines - more than 100 are in development - will muscle their way to the front of the queue, once a candidate succeeds

"Vaccines, tests, diagnostics, treatments and other key tools in the coronavirus response must be made universally available as global public goods," said Costa Rica President Carlos Alvarado, who first proposed the alliance.
 
“We are today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization”

US President Donald Trump says it will be “redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs”
 
Trump: 'China has total control over WHO'

Trump's criticism of the WHO started last month when he threatened to permanently withdraw US funding if the body did not "commit to major substantive improvements in the next 30 days".

"It is clear the repeated missteps by you and your organization in responding to the pandemic have been extremely costly for the world," Trump wrote in a letter to the WHO director-general on 18 May.

"The only way forward for the World Health Organization is if it can actually demonstrate independence from China."

In today's White House speech, Trump said "China has total control over the World Health Organization", despite paying the organisation a fraction of what the US does.

China has accused the US of being responsible for the spread of the virus on its own soil, attributing the outbreak to American "politicians who lie".
 
MenInG said:
“We are today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization”

US President Donald Trump says it will be “redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs”
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More on this:

Trump: 'We are terminating relationship with WHO'

President Donald Trump is now speaking in the White House Rose Garden, where he is announcing measures aimed at punishing China.

"We will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and directing those funds" to other global public health charities, Trump says.

"The world is now suffering as a result of the malfeasance of the Chinese government," he says, adding that China "instigated a global pandemic that has cost over 100,000 American lives".

China, he says, "pressured the World Health Organization to mislead the world" about the virus.

"Countless lives have been taken and profound economic hardship has been inflicted all around the globe," he adds.
 
Germany criticises Trump break with WHO

Germany has strongly criticised President Trump's decision to sever ties with the World Health Organization.

Health Minister Jens Spahn says it's "disappointing" and a setback for global health.
 
EU appeals to Trump to reconsider leaving WHO

The European Union has urged President Donald Trump to reconsider his decision to sever US ties with the World Health Organization.

Germany's health minister Jens Spahn gave the first clear-cut European reaction to President Trump's announcement, calling it a "disappointing backlash for international health.

This latest reaction comes from the EU's foreign affairs chief, Josep Borell, and the head of the EU's executive, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

In their statement, they say on 19 May all WHO member states agreed to start "at the earliest appropriate moment" a thorough review of the international health response to the virus.

"Global co-operation and solidarity through multilateral efforts are the only effective and viable avenues to win this battle the world is facing," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Foreign Affairs Chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.

They also said the EU had "already provided additional funding" to the WHO.

"Evaluating our global response is necessary as there are lessons to be learnt from this pandemic, its outbreak and response to it... the evaluation of our collective performance at international level is only a necessary process, aiming at strengthening health security."

It adds: "The WHO needs to continue being able to lead the international response to pandemics, current and future. For this, the participation and support of all is required and very much needed."

"In the face of this global threat, now is the time for enhanced cooperation and common solutions. Actions that weaken international results must be avoided. In this context, we urge the US to reconsider its announced decision."
 
President Donald Trump has been criticised at home and abroad after announcing he is ending US ties with the World Health Organization (WHO).

The EU urged him to reconsider the decision, while Germany's health minister called it a "disappointing setback for international health".

The head of the US Senate's health committee, a Republican like Mr Trump, said now was not the time to leave.

Mr Trump said the WHO had failed to hold China to account over coronavirus.

The WHO, a UN agency that helps countries promote healthcare and tackle outbreaks of disease, has faced regular criticism from the US president over its handling of the outbreak.

He suspended US funding to the WHO last month and on Friday permanently halted the payment, which last year stood at more than $400m (£324m; €360m), the largest single contribution at around 15% of its total budget.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and top EU diplomat, Josep Borrell, said in a statement: "In the face of this global threat, now is the time for enhanced co-operation and common solutions. Actions that weaken international results must be avoided.

"We urge the US to reconsider its announced decision."

German Health Minister Jens Spahn described the setback as "disappointing" although he accepted the WHO "needs reform".

"The EU must take a leading role and engage more financially," he said.

A spokesperson for the UK said: "Coronavirus is a global challenge and the World Health Organization has an important role to play in leading the international health response. We have no plans to withdraw our funding."

The chair of the US Senate Health Committee, Lamar Alexander, said the move could hamper the discovery of a vaccine against Covid-19 and urged a reversal of the decision in the "strongest terms possible".

"Certainly there needs to be a good, hard look at mistakes the World Health Organization might have made in connection with coronavirus, but the time to do that is after the crisis has been dealt with, not in the middle of it," he said.

Ex-presidential candidate and US Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted: "President Trump's decision to leave the @WHO during a global pandemic alienates our allies, undermines our global leadership, and threatens the health of the American people."

Anders Nordstrom, a former WHO acting director general, said he was "deeply concerned" the move would increase political tension at a time when "we need to have global solidarity".

South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize called the decision "unfortunate".

WHO member states agreed on 19 May to set up an independent inquiry into the global response to the pandemic.

What was behind Trump's decision?

Speaking at the White House, Mr Trump said: "Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs."

It is not clear when any US withdrawal might take place. A 1948 agreement between the US and WHO allows for one year's notice before pulling out.

Mr Trump has accused China of trying to cover up the outbreak of coronavirus, which occurred in the city of Wuhan late last year.

He also says that "China has total control over the World Health Organization".

US-China battle over coronavirus
The president accused China of pressurising the WHO to "mislead the world" about the virus, without elaborating.

"The world is now suffering as a result of the malfeasance of the Chinese government," he said.

The US will redirect its funds for the WHO to other health groups.

More than 102,000 people in the US have lost their lives to Covid-19 - by far the biggest death toll in the world.

Opponents say Mr Trump is trying to deflect criticism of his handling of the pandemic ahead of his re-election bid this year.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian has said that Mr Trump is trying to mislead the public, smear China and "shift the blame for [the US's] own incompetent response".

What is the WHO - and who funds it?

Founded in 1948 and based in Geneva, Switzerland, it is the UN agency responsible for global public health
Has 194 member states, and aims to "promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable"
Involved in vaccination campaigns, health emergencies and supporting countries in primary care
Funded by a combination of members' fees based on wealth and population and voluntary contributions

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52862588
 
China's foreign ministry has hit out at the US for cutting ties with the World Health Organization (WHO) and called for the international community to increase support for the agency.

The foreign ministry said on Monday that the US has "revealed its pursuit of power politics and unilateralism". It also described America as a "habitual quitter".

President Trump said on Friday that the US was withdrawing from the WHO, accusing it of failing to hold Beijing to account over the coronavirus pandemic.

"China has total control over the World Health Organization," the president declared.

The WHO's Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has promised a review of its response to the pandemic and defended its independence.

The EU has led calls for the Trump administration to reconsider its decision, warning it could hamper global efforts to tackle Covid-19.
 
The World Health Organization (WHO) has rejected claims that the coronavirus is losing its potency.

On Sunday, a senior doctor in Italy said there were signs the virus had become less lethal. Prof Alberto Zangrillo, head of an intensive care unit at San Raffaele Hospital in Lombardy, said coronavirus “clinically no longer exists”.

But a range of scientists including WHO experts say there is no evidence to support this idea.

“In terms of transmissibility, that has not changed. In terms of severity, that has not changed,” said WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove.
 
China delayed releasing important coronavirus information during the early days of the outbreak, according to leaked WHO documents and recordings of WHO meetings obtained by the Associated Press (AP).

The delay led to frustration for officials in the World Health Organisation (WHO), even as they publicly praised China for its transparency.

The country waited more than one week before publishing the genome of the novel coronavirus on 11 January, despite the fact three different government labs had fully sequenced the genetic code.

"Tight controls on information and competition within the Chinese public health system were to blame, according to dozens of interviews and internal documents," AP reported.

And for two weeks afterwards, China also delayed providing the WHO with more detailed data on patients and cases, according to the recordings, making it difficult for officials to judge whether the virus could spread between people, and what risk it might mean for the rest of the world.

One WHO official reportedly complained: "We're going on very minimal information. It's clearly not enough for you to do proper planning."

AP said: "WHO staffers debated how to press China for gene sequences and detailed patient data without angering authorities, worried about losing access and getting Chinese scientists into trouble."

The Chinese government did not comment on AP's report, but has repeatedly said it has acted transparently.

"Since the beginning of the outbreak, we have been continuously sharing information on the epidemic with the WHO, and the international community in an open, transparent and responsible manner," said Liu Mingzhu, an official with the National Health Commission's International Department, at a news briefing on 15 May.

In a statement, the WHO said: "Our leadership and staff have worked night and day in compliance with the organisation's rules and regulations to support and share information with all member states equally, and engage in frank and forthright conversations with governments at all levels."

International law requires countries to report information that may affect public health but the WHO does not have enforcement powers.

Officials compared China's lack of cooperation with other countries.

"This would not happen in Congo and did not happen in Congo and other places," Dr Michael Ryan, WHO's chief of emergencies, told colleagues in the second week of January, according to the report.

"We need to see the data. It's absolutely important at this point."

The Wuhan Institute of Virology sequenced the genome of the virus by 2 January - a short time after the first efforts to decode the genetic map of the virus began in late December, and other labs were also racing to sequence the genome.

On 3 January, the Chinese National Health Commission issued a secret notice ordering labs studying the virus to destroy their samples or send them to approved institutes.

The notice also banned labs from publishing information about the virus without the approval of the government.

By the end of 5 January, three other Chinese labs had sequenced it, including the Chinese Centre for Disease Control (CDC).

According to AP, the Shanghai Public Clinical Health Center notified the National Health Commission that, according to the sequence: "It should be contagious through respiratory passages. We recommend taking preventative measures in public areas."

The genetic sequence was finally published on 11 January by the Shanghai lab, a move which angered officials at the Chinese CDC. The Shanghai lab was temporarily closed by authorities.

It was not until 20 January that Chinese authorities confirmed sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus and Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the "timely publication of epidemic information and deepening of international cooperation".

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavi...ayed-releasing-important-information-11999027
 
WHO set to resume hydroxychloroquine trial in battle against COVID-19

The World Health Organization will resume its trial of hydroxychloroquine for potential use against the coronavirus, its chief said on Wednesday, after those running the study briefly stopped giving it to new patients over health concerns.

The U.N. agency last month paused the part of its large study of treatments against COVID-19 in which newly enrolled patients were getting the anti-malarial drug to treat COVID-19 due to fears it increased death rates and irregular heartbeats.

The study continued with other medicines.

But the WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said its experts had advised the continuation of all trials including hydroxychloroquine, whose highest-profile backer for use against the coronavirus is U.S. President Donald Trump.

“The executive group will communicate with the principal investigators in the trial about resuming the hydroxychloroquine arm of the trial,” Tedros told an online media briefing, referring to WHO’s initiative to hold clinical tests of potential COVID-19 treatments on some 3,500 patients in 35 countries.

The WHO’s decision to suspend its trial prompted others to follow suit, including Sanofi (SASY.PA), which said on May 29 it was suspending recruitment for its trials. A Sanofi spokesman said the company would review available information and run consultations in the coming days to reassess its position following the WHO’s latest decision on Wednesday.

The WHO’s chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, called for other trials of the drug to proceed. “We owe it to patients to have a definitive answer on whether or not a drug works,” she said, adding that safety monitoring should also continue.

Swaminathan said the WHO would be keen to see more results of clinical trials of Avifavir, a drug she said would be used to treat COVID-19 in Russian hospitals “very soon”.

In the same virtual briefing, WHO officials said they were especially worried about outbreaks in Latin America and in Haiti, one of the world’s poorest nations, where infections have been spreading rapidly.

The coronavirus has infected almost 3 million people in the Americas and more than 6.43 million worldwide.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-h...in-battle-against-covid-19-idUKKBN23A2MK?il=0
 
'It's not over until there is no virus anywhere in the world' - WHO

Some countries have seen "upticks" in COVID-19 cases as lockdowns ease, and populations must continue to protect themselves against the coronavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

"On upticks, yes we have seen in countries around the world - I'm not talking specifically about Europe - when the lockdowns ease, when the social distancing measures ease, people sometimes interpret this as 'OK, it's over'," WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told a UN briefing in Geneva.

"It's not over. It's not over until there is no virus anywhere in the world," she said, adding that US protesters must also take precautions when gathering.
 
Bolsonaro threatens WHO exit

President Jair Bolsonaro threatened to pull Brazil out of the WHO after the United Nations agency warned governments about the risk of lifting lockdowns before slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Speaking to journalists, Bolsonaro accused the WHO of being "partisan" and "political". He said Brazil will consider leaving the body unless it ceased to work "without ideological bias".

Earlier on Friday, when asked about efforts to loosen social-distancing orders in Brazil despite rising daily death rates and diagnoses, a WHO spokeswoman said a key criteria for lifting lockdowns was slowing transmission.

"The epidemic, the outbreak, in Latin America is deeply, deeply concerning," Margaret Harris told a news conference in Geneva. She said that among six key criteria for easing quarantines, "one of them is ideally having your transmission declining."
 
WHO advises to wear masks in public areas

The World Health Organization (WHO) has changed its advice on face masks, saying they should be worn in public where social distancing is not possible to help stop the spread of coronavirus.

The global body said new information showed they could provide "a barrier for potentially infectious droplets".

Some countries already recommend or mandate face coverings in public.

The WHO had previously argued there was not enough evidence to say that healthy people should wear masks.

However, WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that "in light of evolving evidence, the WHO advises that governments should encourage the general public to wear masks where there is widespread transmission and physical distancing is difficult, such as on public transport, in shops or in other confined or crowded environments".

The organisation had always advised that medical face masks should be worn by people who are sick and by those caring for them.

Globally, there have been 6.7 million confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 400,000 deaths since the outbreak began late last year, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52945210
 
Antiracist protesters should wear masks, says Tedros

The director general of the World Health Organization has called on people attending antiracism protests to wear masks, as he warned that the biggest threat in the ongoing coronavirus outbreak “was now complacency.”

Speaking at the UN health agency’s regular coronavirus briefing, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that more than 100,000 new cases a day of coronavirus had been reported on nine of the past ten days. “Although the situation in Europe is improving, globally it is worsening,” Tedros said, with nearly three quarters of cases reported on Sunday were detected in ten countries, concentrated in the Americas and south Asia.
 
Global virus outbreak worsening, WHO chief says

Although the coronavirus outbreak in Europe is improving, "globally it is worsening", says World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

At a coronavirus briefing earlier today, he told reporters that more than 100,000 cases had been reported in nine of the past 10 days, and that 75% of yesterday's cases came from just 10 countries - most of them in the Americas and South Asia.

But despite striking a sombre tone, Dr Tedros said the WHO was encouraged by "positive signs" in several countries.

"In these countries, the biggest threat now is complacency," he added. "Results from studies to see how much of the population has been exposed to the virus show that most people globally are still susceptible to infection."
 
WHO officials: Coronavirus nears peak in Mexico, but risks remain

The coronavirus pandemic in Mexico is advancing toward its peak level of infections but social distancing should continue until a vaccine is made available, World Health Organization officials said on Tuesday.

The officials, from both the World Health Organization (WHO) and its Americas’ arm, PAHO, stressed during a webcast conference that more testing is needed in Mexico before further economic re-opening, and that street protests could cause a spike of new cases.

Mexico, where total confirmed cases exceed 120,000 and the death toll stands at about 14,000, began a gradual re-opening of the economy at the start of June.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-h...in-mexico-but-risks-remain-idUKKBN23G30M?il=0
 
People most infectious at start, WHO studies say

World Health Organisation (WHO) experts said on Tuesday that studies show people with coronavirus are most infectious just at the point they begin to feel unwell.

Dr Mike Ryan, WHO's top emergencies expert, said the novel coronavirus lodges in the upper respiratory tract, making it easier to transmit by droplets than related viruses such as Sars or Mers, which are in the lower tract.

"That means you could be in the restaurant feeling perfectly well and start to get a fever, you are feeling okay, you didn't think to stay home, but that's the moment at which your viral load could be actually quite high," he said.
 
WHO: No sign of season change affecting virus

There is little evidence that a change in the seasons will affect the spread of Covid-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.

"We cannot rely on an expectation that the season or the temperature will be the answer to this," Mike Ryan, the head of the organisation's emergency programme, told reporters.

"Right now, we have no data to suggest that the virus will behave more aggressively or transmit more efficiently or not" when the seasons change, he said.

In the initial stages of the pandemic, some suggested that warmer weather might slow the spread of Covid-19. But this idea faded as the virus took hold during springtime in the northern hemisphere.

Separately, Mr Ryan also said that a lack of personal protective equipment remained a major issue globally. "Health systems in some countries are struggling and are under huge strain," he added
 
Breast milk has no links to spread of coronavirus: WHO

Breastfeeding mothers do not seem to be passing on the new coronavirus to their infants, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert said on Friday.

"So far we have not been able to detect live virus in breast milk," Anshu Banerjee, the senior advisor for WHO's Department of Reproductive Health and Research, told a press conference.

"So the risk of transmission from mother to child so far has not been established," he said, adding that only 'fragments' of the virus had been found in breast milk.
 
WHO notes 100,000 new virus cases daily

The head of the World Health Organization says more than 100,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported worldwide each day over the past two weeks - mostly in the Americas and South Asia - and countries that have curbed transmissions "must stay alert to the possibility of resurgence".

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted a new cluster of cases in Beijing, which went more than 50 days without a new case of COVID-19, and said the origin of that new series of cases is under investigation.

Tedros noted that it took over two months to reach 100,000 reported cases - now that is a daily norm. Nearly three-quarters of each day's new cases come from 10 countries, mostly in South Asia and the Americas, he said.
 
WHO Americas director says pandemic still accelerating

The World Health Organization's regional director for the Americas, Carissa Etienne, has said the pandemic is still accelerating as the region is fast approaching four million coronavirus cases.

Speaking in a virtual briefing from Washington-based Pan American Health Organization, Etienne said Brazil accounts for 23 percent of the more than 3.8 million cases in the Americas and 23 percent of the almost 204,000 deaths in the region and "we are not seeing transmission slowing down".
 
WHO Americas director says coronavirus pandemic still accelerating in the region

The number of people infected with the coronavirus in the Americas is fast approaching 4 million with almost 204,000 deaths, and the pandemic continues to accelerate, World Health Organization (WHO) regional director Carissa Etienne said on Tuesday

Speaking in a virtual briefing from Washington-based Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Etienne said COVID-19 has hit the region’s migrants particularly hard.

There should be stepped up testing in the U.S-Mexico border area due to unconfirmed reports of increasing numbers of people infected with the virus in the United States arriving there to travel to Mexico, PAHO recommended.

The regional wing of the WHO has sent teams to enhance surveillance and testing in Haiti’s frontier with the Dominican Republic due to surging cross-border transmission.

Chile, which took aggressive steps from the start of the outbreak to curb the spread of the virus, has seen growing cases in the last two weeks, leading to reinforced social distancing measures for all its territory, PAHO’s assistant director Jarbas Barbosa said.

The onset of winter in South America has PAHO worried that serious cases of COVID-19 will rise further.

Brazil, which has the world’s second worst outbreak after the United States, is a major concern for the regional health body. Coronavirus-related deaths are surging in Brazil, even as the government of President Jair Bolsonaro encourages resumption of economic activities.

Brazil accounts for 23% of the more than 3.8 million coronavirus cases in the Americas and 23% of the almost 204,000 deaths, Etienne said. “We are not seeing transmission slowing down” in Brazil, she said.

PAHO recommends that Brazil and other countries in the region continue strengthening social distancing and urged reopening of the economy be done slowly and carefully.

“The epidemic has still not passed its peak in Latin America and mitigation measures should continue,” said PAHO Communicable Diseases director Marcos Espinal.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-h...accelerating-in-the-region-idUKKBN23N2V8?il=0
 
WHO moves to update COVID-19 guidance after 'great news' in drug study

The World Health Organization (WHO) plans to update its guidelines on treating people stricken with COVID-19 to reflect results of a clinical trial that showed a cheap, common steroid can help save critically ill patients.

Trial results announced on Tuesday by researchers in the United Kingdom showed dexamethasone cut death rates by around a third among the most severely ill COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital.
 
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has stopped its research looking at the potential of malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus.

The UN health agency said that recent findings "showed that hydroxychloroquine does not result in the reduction of mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients".

There's been widespread interest in hydroxychloroquine as both a preventative measure and for treating patients with coronavirus. It has long been used to treat malaria, lupus and arthritis, but there is no evidence of its efficacy against Covid-19.

Trials around the world were temporarily derailed when a study published in medical journal The Lancet claimed the drug increased fatalities and heart problems in some patients.

The results prompted the WHO and others to halt trials over safety concerns. However, The Lancet subsequently retracted the study when it was found to have serious shortcomings and the WHO resumed its research - until this week.
 
The World Health Organization (WHO) hopes that hundreds of Covid-19 vaccine doses could be produced by the end of the year and be targeted at those most vulnerable to the virus.

There is no vaccine yet, but WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said experts worldwide were working on more than 200 possibilities. Around 10 potential vaccines are currently undergoing human trials.

"I'm hopeful, I'm optimistic," she explained.

"But vaccine development is a complex undertaking, it comes with a lot of uncertainty The good thing is, we have many vaccines and platforms so even if the first one fails, or the second ones fails, we shouldn't lose hope, we shouldn't give up."

"If we're very lucky, there will be one or two successful candidates before the end of this year," she said. The priority receipients would probably be frontline workers such as medics, those vulnerable because of age or illness and those who are in high-transmission settings like care homes or prisons.
 
Lockdowns putting children at risk worldwide - UN report

Around one billion children - half of all those in the world - are affected by physical, sexual or psychological violence, which has been "made worse" by lockdown measures during the pandemic, according to the United Nations.

In the first study of its kind, the report by the World Health Organization also found that approximately 40,000 children were victims of homicide in 2017.

It said the coronavirus pandemic had caused an increase in violence, as stay-at-home policies had cuts sources of support and eroded victims' ability to cope with pressures. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called it a "disturbing" effect of Covid-19,

Around 80% of countries also lacked funding and measurable targets for prevention programmes, exacerbating the trend further, along with an increase in harmful online behaviour like cyber-bullying.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Increased violence against children is one of the disturbing side effects of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a>.<br>As this new report shows, movement restrictions, school closures, isolation & loss of income have elevated stress & increased the likelihood that children experience violence at home. <a href="https://t.co/63ITZqmGal">https://t.co/63ITZqmGal</a></p>— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) <a href="https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1273948512238133257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 19, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Coronavirus pandemic accelerating, warns WHO chief Tedros

The global coronavirus pandemic is accelerating, with Thursday's 150,000 new cases the highest in a single day, World Health Organization (WHO) director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

"Almost half of the cases reported were from the Americas," he told a virtual briefing. "The world is in a new and dangerous phase ... the virus is still spreading fast, it is still deadly, and most people are still susceptible."
 
Outbreak accelerating 'in many parts of world' - WHO

Here’s a little more on the news we brought you earlier that the World Health Organization is warning that the pandemic is entering a “new and dangerous” phase.

Maria van Kerkhove, technical lead of the WHO’s Covid-19 response, told a press conference the pandemic is “accelerating in many parts of the world”.

“While we have seen countries have some success in suppressing transmission and bringing transition down to a low level, every country must remain ready,” she said.

Mike Ryan, the head of the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, said that some countries had managed to flatten the peak of infections without bringing them down to a very low level.

"You can see a situation in some countries where they could get a second peak now, because the disease has not been brought under control," he said.

“The disease will then go away and reduce to a low level, and they could then get a second wave again in the autumn or later in the year.”
 
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded the biggest one-day increase in coronavirus cases, with the Americas responsible for most of the new infections.

The WHO said more than 183,000 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours.

Most - more than 50,000 - came from Brazil, followed by the US and India.

The number of confirmed cases is partly a reflection of increased testing around the world.
 
The World Health Organization has reported the largest single-day increase in virus infections by its count, at more than 183,000 new cases in the last 24 hours. Brazil had the highest spike with 54,771 cases, with the U.S. next at 36,617
 
WHO warns of 'lack of leadership' over pandemic

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of a lack of global leadership over the pandemic.

"The world is in desperate need of national unity and global solidarity. The politicisation of the pandemic has exacerbated it," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has told a virtual health forum.

"The greatest threat we face now is not the virus itself - it's the lack of global solidarity and global leadership."

The WHO has also said the pandemic is still accelerating and that its economic and other effects would be felt for decades.

Almost nine million people have been infected and nearly 470,000​ have died.
 
The director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has said the "greatest threat we face now is not the virus itself, it’s the lack of global solidarity and global leadership".

"We cannot defeat this pandemic with a divided world," he said during a video conference.

While Tedros did not mention President Trump specifically, the US leader said last month that his country - which is the WHO's biggest funder - would terminate its relationship with the organisation.

"China has total control over the World Health Organization," he claimed.
 
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it expects to see the number of cases of Covid-19 reach 10 million within the next week.

"More than 9.1 million cases of Covid-19 have now been reported to the WHO, and more than 470,000 deaths," the health body chief, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told reporters in Geneva.

"In the first month of this outbreak, less than 10,000 cases were reported. In the last month, almost four million cases have been reported.

"We expect to reach a total of 10 million cases within the next week."

He called it a "sober reminder" of our "urgent responsibility to do everything we can... to suppress transmission and save lives".

The Americas have become the epicentre of the pandemic. Find out more about where cases are still rising.
 
Surge of cases in Europe since lockdown easing, says WHO

More from the World Health Organisation. The body’s regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, has told reporters that Europe has seen a surge of Covid-19 cases since countries began easing restrictions.

“Last week, Europe saw an increase in weekly cases for the first time in months,” he said, adding that more than two dozen countries in Europe had seen resurgences of the deadly virus.
 
MenInG said:
Surge of cases in Europe since lockdown easing, says WHO

More from the World Health Organisation. The body’s regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, has told reporters that Europe has seen a surge of Covid-19 cases since countries began easing restrictions.

“Last week, Europe saw an increase in weekly cases for the first time in months,” he said, adding that more than two dozen countries in Europe had seen resurgences of the deadly virus.
Click to expand...

'Very significant' coronavirus resurgences in Europe alarm WHO

Europe has seen an increase in weekly cases of Covid-19 for the first time in months as restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the virus are eased, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

In 11 countries, which have not been named, accelerated transmission has led to "very significant" resurgences, said Regional Director Dr Hans Henri Kluge.

His warnings about the risk of resurgence had become reality, he said.

If left unchecked, he warned health systems would be "pushed to the brink".

More than 2.6 million cases of Covid-19 and 195,000 deaths have been reported in the WHO's European region, which covers 54 countries and seven territories across Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.

Almost 20,000 new cases and more than 700 new deaths are being recorded daily.

"For weeks, I have spoken about the risk of resurgence as countries adjust measures," Dr Kluge told a virtual news conference on Thursday.

"In several countries across Europe, this risk has now become a reality - 30 countries have seen increases in new cumulative cases over the past two weeks.

"In 11 of these countries, accelerated transmission has led to very significant resurgence that if left unchecked will push health systems to the brink once again."

Dr Kluge said countries such as Poland, Germany, Spain and Israel had responded quickly to dangerous outbreaks associated with schools, coal mines, and food production settings, and brought them under control through rapid interventions.

Despite warning about resurgences, he said the WHO anticipated that the situation would calm down further in the majority of countries over the summer.

"But we have indeed to prepare for the fall, when Covid-19 may meet seasonal influenza, pneumonia, other diseases as well, because ultimately the virus is still actively circulating in our communities and there is no effective treatment, no effective vaccine, yet."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53175459
 
Germany, France shore up political, financial aid to beleaguered WHO

GENEVA/BERLIN (Reuters) - France and Germany expressed political and financial backing for the World Health Organization in its fight against the coronavirus on Thursday, with Berlin saying it would give a record half billion euros in funding and equipment this year.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the agency, criticised by the United States for being slow off the mark in tackling the pandemic, was getting the support it needed and that the talks had been “very productive”.

“We are getting today all the support we need, politically and financially. Both Germany and France are long-standing friends of WHO and global health,” Tedros told a news conference at WHO headquarters.

U.S. President Donald Trump said last month that the United States was cutting ties with the “China-centric” WHO, but he has still not formally notified the U.N. agency.

The United States is the biggest overall donor to the Geneva-based WHO, contributing more than $400 million in 2019, roughly 15% of its budget.

“Isolated national answers to international problems are doomed to fail,” German Health Minister Jens Spahn said.

He announced additional donations of funds and medical equipment to WHO that would bring Germany’s total support to 500 million euros ($561 million) this year, the “highest amount ever”, as it assumes the EU presidency.

“We need a strong, efficient, transparent and accountable WHO today more than ever,” Spahn said.

“Germany will do its part to give the WHO the political, financial and technical backing that is needed. This comes with the expectation that remaining challenges are adequately addressed and needed reforms are pushed forward.”

France said it would give 90 million euros to a WHO research centre in Lyon as well as an additional contribution of 50 million euros.

“I truly believe the world needs, more than ever, a multilateral organisation,” French Health Minister Olivier Veran said. “I believe the world cannot get rid of partners. We need a global answer (to COVID-19) and only the WHO can provide that answer.”

Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

More than 9.47 million people have been reported to have been infected by the coronavirus globally and 482,389​ have died so far, according to a Reuters tally.

“The situation in Western Europe is improving. Of course, in the rest of world the pandemic is on the increase,” Tedros said.

European governments are working with the United States on plans to overhaul the WHO, a top European health official said last week, signalling that Europe shares some of the concerns that led Washington to say it would quit.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...inancial-aid-to-beleaguered-who-idUSKBN23W1PX
 
WHO-led coalition says $31.3 billion needed for tools to fight COVID-19

LONDON/GENEVA (Reuters) - A World Health Organization-led coalition fighting the COVID-19 pandemic is asking government and private sector donors to help raise $31.3 billion in the next 12 months to develop and deliver tests, treatments and vaccines for the disease.

Renewing its call on Friday for global collaboration against the pandemic, it said $3.4 billion had been contributed for the coalition to date, leaving a funding gap of $27.9 billion. Of that, $13.7 billion was “urgently needed”.

The WHO is working with a large coalition of drug-development, funding and distribution organisations under what it calls the ACT-Accelerator Hub.

The initiative is intended to develop and deliver 500 million COVID-19 tests and 245 million courses of new treatment for the disease to low- and middle-income countries by mid-2021, it said in a statement.

It also hoping 2 billion vaccines doses, including 1 billion to be bought by low- and middle-income countries, will be available by the end of 2021.

“SIGNIFICANT” INVESTMENT REQUIRED

The ACT-Accelerator was launched in April to speed up research and development work on medical tools to tackle COVID-19. On Friday, the WHO said the pandemic was still threatening millions of lives and scores of economies, and urgent work and funds were needed.

“The investment required is significant, but it pales in significance when compared to the cost of COVID-19,” it said.

“The total cost of the ACT-Accelerator’s work is less than a tenth of what the IMF estimates the global economy is losing every month due to the pandemic.  468,000 thousand people have already lost their lives.”

As the race to find a vaccine has accelerated, governments including the United States and in Europe, have rushed to agree advance purchases of promising coronavirus immunisation treatments.

That has raised concerns about the equitable distribution of and access to supplies of COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments, particularly for lower- and middle-income countries.

WHO chief scientist Souma Swaminathan said the programme had had “really very constructive” engagement with companies about the involvement of the private sector.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ded-for-tools-to-fight-covid-19-idUSKBN23X1S1
 
WHO sending team to China to investigate origins of coronavirus

The World Health Organization is sending a team to China next week to investigate the origins of the coronavirus, its head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said.

The United States, the WHO’s largest critic which has said it is leaving the UN agency, has called for an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus.

President Donald Trump and secretary of state Mike Pompeo have said it may have originated in a laboratory, although they have presented no evidence for this and China strongly denies it.
 
'No excuse' for countries that fail in contact tracing, WHO's Tedros says

Tracing contacts of people with coronavirus infections is the most important step in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, and countries that are failing to do so have no excuse, the World Health Organization chief said on Monday.

“Although many countries have made some progress, globally the pandemic is actually speeding up,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing.

“We all want this to be over. We all want to get on with our lives. But the hard reality is that this is not even close to being over,” he said. “Most people remain susceptible, the virus still has a lot of room to move.”

Countries such as South Korea had managed to contain the disease by tracking down the contacts of those carrying infection, Tedros said. This was possible even under extreme conditions, as the WHO itself had shown by halting an outbreak of Ebola in eastern Congo, tracing 25,000 contacts a day in a remote area where some 20 armed groups were fighting, he added.

“No excuse for contact tracing. If any country is saying contact tracing is difficult, it is a lame excuse.”

TEAM TO INVESTIGATE ORIGINS IN CHINA
In a move sought by the WHO’s biggest critic, the United States, Tedros announced that a team would be sent to China next week to investigate the origins of the outbreak.

“We can fight the virus better when we know everything about the virus, including how it started,” Tedros said. “We will be sending a team next week to China to prepare for that.”

U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have both said the disease could have escaped from a lab in Wuhan, although they have presented no evidence of this, and China denies it. Scientists say the virus emerged in nature.

Trump has announced plans to quit the WHO, which he says is too close to China. He has repeatedly emphasised the Chinese origins of the virus, calling it “Kung Flu” at two rallies this month, a term the White House had previously described as unacceptable and which Asian-American groups say is racist.

Asked about Trump’s use of the term, the director of the WHO’s emergencies program, Mike Ryan, called for an “international discourse that is based on mutual respect”.

“Many people around the world have used unfortunate language in this response,” he said.

Ryan said there had been tremendous progress towards finding a vaccine, but there was no guarantee of success. In the meantime countries must use the strategies available, such as social distancing and contact tracing.

“Many, many countries through applying a comprehensive strategy have reached a very low level of virus transmission in their countries but always have to remain vigilant in case there are clusters or small outbreaks.”

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-h...t-tracing-whos-tedros-says-idUKKBN240260?il=0
 
WHO halts hydroxychloroquine, HIV drugs in COVID trials

The WHO said that it was discontinuing its trials of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and combination HIV drug lopinavir/ritonavir in hospitalised patients with COVID-19 after they failed to reduce mortality.

"These interim trial results show that hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir produce little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalised COVID-19 patients when compared to standard of care. Solidarity trial investigators will interrupt the trials with immediate effect," the WHO said in a statement, referring to large multi-country trials that the agency is leading.

The UN agency said that the decision, taken on the recommendation of the trial's international steering committee, does not affect other studies where the drugs are used for non-hospitalised patients or as a prophylaxis.

==

WHO reports record daily increase in global coronavirus cases

The World Health Organization has reported a record increase in global coronavirus cases, with the total rising by 212,326 in 24 hours.

The biggest increases were from the United States, Brazil and India. The previous WHO record for new cases was 189,077 on June 28. Deaths remained steady at about 5,000 a day.
 
President Donald Trump has formally moved to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The president had made his intentions clear in late May, accusing the WHO of being under China's control in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite calls from the EU and others, he said he would pull out of the UN agency and redirect funds elsewhere.

He has now notified the UN and Congress of his intentions, although the process could take at least a year.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, confirmed the US had notified it of its withdrawal, effective as of 6 July 2021.

Senator Robert Menendez, the leading Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, also wrote on Twitter: "Congress received notification that POTUS officially withdrew the US from the WHO in the midst of a pandemic.

"It leaves Americans sick and America alone."

A senior US administration official told CBS News that Washington had detailed the reforms that it wanted the WHO to make and engaged with it directly, but that the WHO had refused to act.

"Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship," the official was quoted as saying.

The US is the global health agency's largest single contributor, providing more than $400m (£324m; €360m) in 2019, around 15% of its total budget.

Under a Congress resolution in 1948, the US can withdraw but must give a year's notice and should pay outstanding fees, although it is unclear where Mr Trump stands on that. Mr Dujarric stressed that those conditions should be met.

The withdrawal will call into question the WHO's financial viability and the future of its many programmes promoting healthcare and tackling disease.

What has Mr Trump said about the WHO?

He first announced in April that he was going to halt US funding for the WHO unless it undertook "substantive improvements" within 30 days.

Then in late May he said: "We will be terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and directing those funds" to other global public health charities.

"The world is now suffering as a result of the malfeasance of the Chinese government," he said, adding that China had "instigated a global pandemic".

The president accused China of pressurising the WHO to "mislead the world" about the virus, without giving evidence for his allegations.

"China has total control over the World Health Organization," the president said.

Other countries, including Germany and the UK, have said they have no intention of withdrawing funding from the WHO, which is co-ordinating a global initiative to develop a vaccine against Covid-19

What is the WHO - and who funds it?
Founded in 1948 and based in Geneva, Switzerland, it is the UN agency responsible for global public health
Has 194 member states, and aims to "promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable"
Involved in vaccination campaigns, health emergencies and supporting countries in primary care
Funded by a combination of members' fees based on wealth and population and voluntary contributions

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53327906
 
WHO acknowledges 'evidence emerging' of airborne spread of COVID-19

The World Health Organization on Tuesday acknowledged “evidence emerging” of the airborne spread of the novel coronavirus, after a group of scientists urged the global body to update its guidance on how the respiratory disease passes between people.

“We have been talking about the possibility of airborne transmission and aerosol transmission as one of the modes of transmission of COVID-19,” Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead on the COVID-19 pandemic at the WHO, told a news briefing.

The WHO has previously said the virus that causes the COVID-19 respiratory disease spreads primarily through small droplets expelled from the nose and mouth of an infected person that quickly sink to the ground.

But in an open letter to the Geneva-based agency, published on Monday in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal, 239 scientists in 32 countries outlined evidence that they say shows floating virus particles can infect people who breathe them in.

Because those smaller exhaled particles can linger in the air, the scientists in the group had been urging WHO to update its guidance.

“We wanted them to acknowledge the evidence,” said Jose Jimenez, a chemist at the University of Colorado who signed the paper.

“This is definitely not an attack on the WHO. It’s a scientific debate, but we felt we needed to go public because they were refusing to hear the evidence after many conversations with them,” he said in a telephone interview.

Speaking at Tuesday’s briefing in Geneva, Benedetta Allegranzi, the WHO’s technical lead for infection prevention and control, said there was evidence emerging of airborne transmission of the coronavirus, but that it was not definitive.

“...The possibility of airborne transmission in public settings - especially in very specific conditions, crowded, closed, poorly ventilated settings that have been described, cannot be ruled out,” she said.

“However, the evidence needs to be gathered and interpreted, and we continue to support this.”

Jimenez said historically, there has been a fierce opposition in the medical profession to the notion of aerosol transmission, and the bar for proof has been set very high. A key concern has been a fear of panic.

“If people hear airborne, healthcare workers will refuse to go to the hospital,” he said. Or people will buy up all the highly protective N95 respirator masks, “and there will be none left for developing countries.”

Jimenez said the WHO panel assessing the evidence on airborne transmission was not scientifically diverse, and lacked representation from experts in aerosol transmission.

Any change in the WHO’s assessment of risk of transmission could affect its current advice on keeping 1-metre (3.3 feet) of physical distancing. Governments, which rely on the agency for guidance policy, may also have to adjust public health measures aimed at curbing the spread of the virus.

Van Kerkhove said the WHO would publish a scientific brief summarising the state of knowledge on modes of transmission of the virus in the coming days.

“A comprehensive package of interventions is required to be able to stop transmission,” she said.

“This includes not only physical distancing, it includes the use of masks where appropriate in certain settings, specifically where you can’t do physical distancing and especially for healthcare workers.”

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-h...-of-airborne-spread-of-covid-19-idUKKBN2482AU
 
MenInG said:
President Donald Trump has formally moved to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The president had made his intentions clear in late May, accusing the WHO of being under China's control in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite calls from the EU and others, he said he would pull out of the UN agency and redirect funds elsewhere.

He has now notified the UN and Congress of his intentions, although the process could take at least a year.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, confirmed the US had notified it of its withdrawal, effective as of 6 July 2021.

Senator Robert Menendez, the leading Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, also wrote on Twitter: "Congress received notification that POTUS officially withdrew the US from the WHO in the midst of a pandemic.

"It leaves Americans sick and America alone."

A senior US administration official told CBS News that Washington had detailed the reforms that it wanted the WHO to make and engaged with it directly, but that the WHO had refused to act.

"Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship," the official was quoted as saying.

The US is the global health agency's largest single contributor, providing more than $400m (£324m; €360m) in 2019, around 15% of its total budget.

Under a Congress resolution in 1948, the US can withdraw but must give a year's notice and should pay outstanding fees, although it is unclear where Mr Trump stands on that. Mr Dujarric stressed that those conditions should be met.

The withdrawal will call into question the WHO's financial viability and the future of its many programmes promoting healthcare and tackling disease.

What has Mr Trump said about the WHO?

He first announced in April that he was going to halt US funding for the WHO unless it undertook "substantive improvements" within 30 days.

Then in late May he said: "We will be terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and directing those funds" to other global public health charities.

"The world is now suffering as a result of the malfeasance of the Chinese government," he said, adding that China had "instigated a global pandemic".

The president accused China of pressurising the WHO to "mislead the world" about the virus, without giving evidence for his allegations.

"China has total control over the World Health Organization," the president said.

Other countries, including Germany and the UK, have said they have no intention of withdrawing funding from the WHO, which is co-ordinating a global initiative to develop a vaccine against Covid-19

What is the WHO - and who funds it?
Founded in 1948 and based in Geneva, Switzerland, it is the UN agency responsible for global public health
Has 194 member states, and aims to "promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable"
Involved in vaccination campaigns, health emergencies and supporting countries in primary care
Funded by a combination of members' fees based on wealth and population and voluntary contributions

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53327906
Click to expand...

Poor idea to withdraw from WHO. Yes, WHO head is a puppet of china, but entire orgnization is not useless. Especially during a pandemic many developing countries can use help from WHO. Instead of withdrawing, you push for change to make it better.
 
Buffet said:
Poor idea to withdraw from WHO. Yes, WHO head is a puppet of china, but entire orgnization is not useless. Especially during a pandemic many developing countries can use help from WHO. Instead of withdrawing, you push for change to make it better.
Click to expand...

If the so called ‘Head of WHO’ weren’t sold out, rest of the world would have been in much better position to tackle the situation. Rather than containing the pandemic, puppet WHO spread false narrative which cost hundreds and thousands of lives globally not to forget billions of loss worldwide.
 
The World Health Organization has acknowledged there is emerging evidence that the coronavirus can be spread by tiny particles suspended in the air.

The airborne transmission could not be ruled out in crowded, closed or poorly ventilated settings, an official said.

If the evidence is confirmed, it may affect guidelines for indoor spaces.

An open letter from more than 200 scientists had accused the WHO of underestimating the possibility of airborne transmission.

The WHO has so far said that the virus is transmitted through droplets when people cough or sneeze.

"We wanted them to acknowledge the evidence," Jose Jimenez, a chemist at the University of Colorado who signed the paper, told the Reuters news agency.

"This is definitely not an attack on the WHO. It's a scientific debate, but we felt we needed to go public because they were refusing to hear the evidence after many conversations with them," he said.

Another signatory - Professor Benjamin Cowling of Hong Kong University - told the BBC the finding had "important implications".

"In healthcare settings, if aerosol transmission poses a risk then we understand healthcare workers should really be wearing the best possible preventive equipment... and actually the World Health Organization said that one of the reasons they were not keen to talk about aerosol transmission of Covid-19 is because there's not a sufficient number of these kind of specialised masks for many parts of the world," he said.

"And in the community, if we're thinking about aerosol transmission being a particular risk, then we need to think about how to prevent larger super spreading events, larger outbreaks and those occur in indoor environments with poor ventilation, with crowding and with prolonged close contact."

WHO officials have cautioned the evidence is preliminary and requires further assessment.

Benedetta Allegranzi, the WHO's technical lead for infection prevention and control, said that evidence emerging of airborne transmission of the coronavirus in "crowded, closed, poorly ventilated settings that have been described, cannot be ruled out".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-53329946
 
China criticises US withdrawal from WHO

China has criticised US plans to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO), saying that the move will have graveimplications for developing countries.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian urged the international community to step up support for the UN agency.

President Trump has repeatedly condemned the WHO's handling of the pandemic, accusing it of being under China's control.

The president accused China of pressurising the WHO to "mislead the world" about the virus, without giving evidence for his allegations.

The US is the global health agency's largest single contributor, providing more than $400m (£324m; €360m) in 2019, around 15% of its total budget.

It was announced on Tuesday that the US will leave the global agency on 6 July 2021. Funding from Washington has already been suspended.

Presidential challenger Joe Biden, who is currently ahead in the polls, has said he will take the United States back into the WHO with immediate effect, if he wins November's election.
 
WHO sets up panel to review handling of COVID-19 pandemic

GENEVA/ZURICH (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday it was setting up an independent panel to review its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the response by governments worldwide.

The announcement follows strong criticism by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, which accused the WHO of being “China-centric”, and U.S. formal notification on Tuesday that it was withdrawing from the U.N. agency in a year’s time.

Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf have agreed to head the panel, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

“The magnitude of this pandemic, which has touched virtually everyone in the world, clearly deserves a commensurate evaluation, an honest evaluation,” Tedros told a virtual meeting with representatives of WHO’s 194 member states.

The co-chairs will select the other panel members, he said. The panel will then provide an interim report to an annual meeting of health ministers in November and present a “substantive report” next May.

“This is not a standard report that ticks a box and is then put on a shelf to gather dust. This is something we take seriously,” Tedros said.

In May, WHO’s member states adopted unanimously a resolution proposed by the European Union calling for an evaluation of the global response to the pandemic.

Addressing Thursday’s meeting, Clark said the assignment would be “exceptionally challenging”.

Johnson-Sirleaf, whose country was ravaged by West Africa’s Ebola outbreak, the world’s worst, in 2014-2016, said she looked forward “to doing all we can to respond” to the pandemic’s challenges.

More than 12 million people are reported to have been infected by the novel coronavirus worldwide and 548,429​ have died, according to a Reuters tally.

Ilona Kickbusch, a global health expert and former WHO head of communications, told Reuters on Wednesday that any review had to be credible.

“It has to be seen as a group of people that one can trust, that can start the process, and will probably involve others,” she said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...w-handling-of-covid-19-pandemic-idUSKBN24A1O9
 
Airborne transmission can occur during medical procedures: WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said airborne transmission of the coronavirus can occur during medical procedures that generate aerosols.

The agency said some outbreak reports related to indoor crowded spaces have suggested the possibility of aerosol transmission, combined with droplet transmission, such as during choir practice, in restaurants or in fitness classes.

The WHO on Tuesday acknowledged "emerging evidence" of the airborne spread of the coronavirus, after a group of scientists urged the global body to update its guidance on how the respiratory disease spread.
 
WHO advance team on way to China to set up probe into virus origin

GENEVA (Reuters) - An advance team from the World Health Organization (WHO) has left for China to organise an investigation into the origins of the novel coronavirus which sparked the global pandemic, a spokeswoman said on Friday.

The virus is believed to have emerged in a wholesale market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, since then closed, after jumping the species barrier from the animal kingdom to infect humans.

The two WHO experts, specialists in animal health and epidemiology, will work with Chinese scientists to determine the scope and itinerary of the investigation, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said, declining to name them.

“They have gone, they are in the air now, they are the advance party that is to work out the scope,” she told a briefing.

This would involve negotiations on issues including the composition of the fuller team, she added.

“One of the big issues that everybody is interested in, and of course that’s why we’re sending an animal health expert, is to look at whether or not it jumped from species to a human and what species it jumped from,” Harris said.

“We know it’s very, very similar to the virus in the bat, but did it go through an intermediate species? This is a question we all need answered,” she said.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo have said it may have originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, although they have presented no evidence for this and China strongly denies it. Scientists and U.S. intelligence agencies have said it emerged in nature.

“If there was wrongdoing - and we may never know that for sure - it will be very hard to uncover,” Lawrence Gostin, a professor at Georgetown Law in Washington, D.C., told Reuters.

“The wet market was closed immediately. There is no independent record, evaluation or investigation of a potential zoonotic source, so it will be very hard to go back and piece together,” he said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-set-up-probe-into-virus-origin-idUSKBN24B16V
 
WHO reports record daily increase in global coronavirus cases

The World Health Organization reported a record increase in global coronavirus cases, with the total rising by 228,102 in 24 hours.

The biggest increases were from the United States, Brazil, India and South Africa, according to a daily report.

Global coronavirus cases exceeded 12 million on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally, marking another milestone in the spread of the disease that has killed more than 555,000 people in seven months.
 
Germany urges WHO to hasten review of its handling of pandemic

Germany’s health minister urged the World Health Organization (WHO) to speed up its review of how it has handled the coronavirus pandemic, apparently signalling Europe taking a tougher line on the United Nations body.

Berlin, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, has so far largely shielded the Geneva-based organisation from the most intense criticism by Washington, which wants to leave the WHO because of its alleged excessive closeness to China.

But now Germany seems to be taking a more assertive position.

“When it comes to reappraising the work of the WHO during the crisis, I had the opportunity to talk to director general Tedros (Adhanom Ghebreyesus) on Tuesday in Paris as well as two weeks ago in Geneva, and in both conversations I encouraged him very clearly to launch this independent commission of experts and to expedite its launch,” Jens Spahn told a news conference in Berlin.

The WHO said last week it was setting up an independent panel to review its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the response by governments.

“The World Health Assembly resolution in May 2020 called for WHO to initiate such a panel and the panel has been set up to review experience gained and lessons learned from the WHO-coordinated international health response to COVID-19. This involves the global response, including but not limited to, WHO,” a spokesman for WHO said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has accused the WHO of being too close to China, where the coronavirus first emerged late last year, and not doing enough to question Beijing’s actions at the start of the crisis. Tedros has dismissed the suggestions and said his agency kept the world informed.

Tedros has said the panel will provide an interim report to an annual meeting of health ministers in November and present a “substantive report” next May.

Spahn said the review was important now, while the pandemic is still raging across the world, because “we can already draw conclusions.”

This could lead to quick actions over the body’s governance and improvement of “cooperation between the political and the scientific level” of the organisation, Spahn added.

EU governments have said the review should be followed by a reform of the organisation, a possibility already being discussed with the United States and other members of the G7 group of rich countries, officials have told Reuters.

One official had said the aim was to ensure the WHO’s independence.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-h...f-its-handling-of-pandemic-idUKKCN24H39U?il=0
 
WHO preparing full mission to China to study virus origins

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization is forming a team of international experts to go to China to study the origins of the novel coronavirus, but it will not be in place before the end of July, the head of the WHO’s emergencies programme said on Friday.

A two-person WHO advance team has been in China for a week preparing for the visit of the larger team. WHO emergencies programme chief Mike Ryan said the health body was “very pleased” with the collaboration from Chinese officials so far, but setting up and deploying the larger team would take time.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...to-china-to-study-virus-origins-idUSKCN24I279
 
The World Health Organization has warned that Africa might be headed for a much larger outbreak than current numbers are suggesting.

"I am very concerned right now that we are beginning to see an acceleration of disease in Africa," WHO's emergencies chief Michael Ryan said.

So far, the continent has managed to avoid becoming a hotspot with around 15,000 deaths and 725,000 confirmed infections.

But a surge in South Africa - the continent's worst-hit country - could be seen as a warning for what might happen to the rest of Africa. There are more than 370,000 cases and 5,000 deaths in the country.

"This isn't just a wake-up call for South Africa," Ryan said. "We need to take what is happening in Africa very, very seriously."
 
WHO chief denounces 'unacceptable' comments questioning his independence

The head of the World Health Organization said on Thursday that reported comments by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo questioning his independence were untrue and would not distract the organisation from its work in fighting the coronavirus.

Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has come under criticism, especially from U.S. President Donald Trump and Pompeo, who have accused him of being pro-China.

“And the comments are untrue and unacceptable and without any foundation, for that matter,” Tedros said in response to a question at a Geneva briefing about remarks by Pompeo reported in London on Tuesday.

“Our sole focus - and the focus of the entire organisation - is on saving lives.

“...And WHO will not be distracted by these comments. We don’t want the international community also to be distracted.”

A WHO advance team has been in China for nearly two weeks, organising a WHO-led international mission to investigate the origins of the virus. Scientists believe it emerged in a food market in the central city of Wuhan late last year.

“We are already beginning to reach out to experts at the international level to see who will be available and most appropriate to be able to support an international mission in the coming weeks,” Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergencies expert, said.

Tedros said the WHO was seeing intense transmission of the coronavirus in relatively few countries.

“Two-thirds of all cases are from 10 countries. Almost half of all cases reported so far are from just three countries,” he said, referring to the United States, Brazil and India.

Worldwide more than 15 million cases have been reported and nearly 620,000 deaths, he said.

Recorded U.S. coronavirus infections exceeded 4 million on Thursday, with more than 2,600 new ones every hour on average, the highest rate in the world, according to a Reuters tally.

Infections in the United States have rapidly accelerated since the first COVID-19 case was detected on Jan. 21. It took the country 98 days to reach 1 million cases. It took another 43 days to reach 2 million and then 27 days to reach 3 million.

It has only taken 16 days to reach 4 million at a rate of 43 new cases a minute.

Tedros said that just because cases may be at a low level where someone lives, it doesn’t mean they should let down their guard.

“Know your situation - do you know how many cases were reported where you live yesterday? Do you know how to find that information? Do you know how to minimise your exposure?”

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-h...estioning-his-independence-idUKKCN24O2CE?il=0
 
WHO: Travel bans cannot be indefinite, countries must fight virus

Bans on international travel cannot stay in place indefinitely, and countries should do more to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus within their borders, the World Health Organization has said.

A surge of infections has prompted countries to reimpose some travel restrictions in recent days.

Only with strict adherence to health measures, from wearing masks to avoiding crowds, would the world manage to beat the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at a virtual news briefing on Monday.

"Where these measures are followed, cases go down. Where they are not, cases go up," he said, praising Canada, China, Germany and South Korea for controlling outbreaks.

WHO Emergencies Programme head Mike Ryan said travel bans were not sustainable.

"It is going to be almost impossible for individual countries to keep their borders shut for the foreseeable future. Economies have to open up, people have to work, trade has to resume," he said.

"What is clear is pressure on the virus pushes the numbers down. Release that pressure and cases creep back up."

Tedros also said that the UN health body's emergency committee would convene to re-examine the declaration that the outbreak constituted a "public health emergency of international concern".

A so-called PHEIC declaration, which marks the highest level of alarm under international health rules, must be re-evaluated every six months.

Prior to COVID-19, WHO had only made such declarations five times since its International Health Regulations changed in 2007, for swine flu, polio, Zika and twice for Ebola outbreaks in Africa.

Of those, the current pandemic "is easily the most severe," Tedros said.

There is little doubt that the emergency committee will consider that the pandemic still constitutes a global public health emergency, but it could potentially alter some of its recommendations on how the WHO and the world should respond.

The situation has shifted dramatically since the declaration was made.

"When I declared a public health emergency of international concern on the 30th of January ... there were less than 100 cases outside of China, and no deaths," Tedros said.

But since then, the case numbers have soared past 16 million, with close to 650,000 deaths around the world.

"COVID-19 has changed our world. It has brought people, communities and nations together, and driven them apart," Tedros said.

The WHO has faced criticism from certain quarters for its response, with some charging it acted too slowly - something the organisation itself strenuously denies.

"Over the past six months, WHO has worked tirelessly to support countries to prepare for and respond to this virus," Tedros said.

"I am immensely proud of our organisation, WHO, and its incredible people and their efforts."

Tedros himself has for months faced relentless attacks from US President Donald Trump, who has accused WHO of being a "puppet of China".

Earlier this month Trump made good on his threat to begin withdrawing the US - traditionally WHO's largest donor - from the organisation.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...te-countries-fight-virus-200727143041292.html
 
WHO warns of rising cases among young in Europe

Dr Hans Kluge, Europe regional director for the World Health Organization (WHO), says increasing infections among young people could be driving recent spikes in cases across the continent.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that authorities needed to communicate better with younger members of society.

"An increasing number of countries are experiencing localised outbreaks and a resurge in cases. What we do know, is that it's a consequence of change in human behaviour," he said.

"We're receiving reports from several health authorities of a higher proportion of new infections among young people. So for me, the call is loud enough to rethink how to better involve young people."

Dr Kluge said that as a father of two daughters he understood that young people "do not want to miss the summer".

But he added: "They have a responsibility towards themselves, their parents, grandparents and their communities and we do know, now, how to adopt good healthy behaviours so let's take advantage of the knowledge."

Here is a look at some of the European countries where cases among the young have risen in recent weeks:

The Netherlands has reported higher infection rates among younger age groups than older age groups in recent weeks

In France, officials in Brittany blamed local outbreaks there on people aged between 18 and 25, saying they do not follow distancing measures as closely as others. "Young people spread the virus,"Anne-Briac Bili, head of the regional health authority, told broadcaster France3

In the Spanish capital Madrid, where authorities are trying to stop infections from rising, regional government head Isabel Díaz Ayuso sounded the alarm on Tuesday about "the behaviour of young people", saying: "They are endangering neighbours but also their academic and working future"
 
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