First alerted on coronavirus by our office, not China, says WHO

The World Health Organisations in a recent update of its account of the early stages of the pandemic said that it was alerted by its own office in China, and not China itself to the first pneumonia cases in Wuhan.

Earlier on April 20, WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference the first report had come from China, but did not specify whether the report had been sent by Chinese authorities or another source. However in a more detailed chronology of events published by WHO recently, indicates that it was the WHO office in China that on December 31 notified its regional point of contact of a case of “viral pneumonia” after having found a declaration for the media on a Wuhan health commission website on the issue.

US president Donald Trump has cut off funding to WHO, which he accused of being too close to China and of having poorly managed the pandemic.

Adding to this WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan says “we need to put up a fight now during a peak in the current wave of the coronavirus pandemic rather than focusing on when a second wave might come.”

Dr. Michael Ryan said the world will be much better at fighting a second wave, if people can learn the lessons of fighting the first wave.

WHO officials emphasised mask-wearing, social distancing, and hygiene by individuals, along with contact-tracing and tracking of cases by health authorities as key strategies to fight the virus.

They say governments and individuals should contour their policies and behaviour based on the outbreak status in their countries.

Ryan said the world was experiencing a second peak in the first wave, a situation in which the virus hasn’t been suppressed enough to quell transmission to end the first one.