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WHO insists it hid nothing, sounded virus alarm from start

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By Robin MILLARD

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Strangerland - The WHO were the first ones I was hearing any news from on the matter.

Is that considered the public standard now?

The WORLD Health Organization didn't declare this to be a pandemic until March 11, 2020. On January 31, 2020, Trump had barred entry by foreign nationals who had traveled in China within the previous 14 days. Many major airlines had already suspended flights to/from China before the WHO finally got around to declaring a pandemic. China had been testing bats prior to November 2019. It seems to me that a WORLD health organization should have been all over this brand new deadly virus back in 2019, and issued a pandemic order months before they finally did.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The WORLD Health Organization should have been the first to inform the WORLD that a deadly, new virus had been unleashed in, and from, China, instead of the last.

The WHO were the first ones I was hearing any news from on the matter.

Sorry, did you want me to agree with fake history you are trying to put forward, or to talk about what actually happened in reality?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

WilliBApr. 21 10:44 pm JST

Alfie Noakes:

Erm....excuse me, but are you actually claiming that the WHO and China worked together to deliberately spread Covid-19 around the world? Is that what you mean by this sentence?

The CCP did, and the WHO was complicit. That is a not a conspiracy theory, that is the obvious conclusion if you look at the timeline (beginning with the first infection problems in November, and the reaction by the CCP).

Of course it's a conspiracy theory. It's lies. It's fake news. It's misinformation in an election year. You're spreading fake news on the internet.

Are you actually American or just another one of those Russian trollbots spreading misinformation on the internet? I mean, you're on here every minute of every day. Do you even live in Japan?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Strangerland - The WHO doesn't have any right by which to order anyone to do anything, nor have they tried.

The WORLD Health Organization should have been the first to inform the WORLD that a deadly, new virus had been unleashed in, and from, China, instead of the last. The WHO is responsible for much of the early confusion. The Chinese government is concerned about their reputation. The WHO also seemed to be very concerned about the Chinese government's reputation. It's time to change the WHO's upper management for those who are more concerned about the world's health.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Yeah, how DARE these people dedicate their lives and careers to the health of humanity in the world

Tedro Adhanom Gnebryesus dedicates his life and carreer to the health of huminity in the world? LOL!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The WHO is not ordering China to do anything;

The WHO doesn't have any right by which to order anyone to do anything, nor have they tried.

China is ordering the WHO what to say.

This is Trump's squirrel.

Lot's of dogs out there.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

WHO is incompetent, stupid and useless!!! WHO had to order China to close right away and not let anybody out until the virus is fully contained!!!

Yeah, how DARE these people dedicate their lives and careers to the health of humanity in the world. Evil, evil people. They should be condemned with every condemnation the internet can throw at them. They are sick.

So speaketh The Trump, and so speaketh us.

How DARE they!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

browny1 - And thank you for your response. I think you misunderstood my comment. I was simply saying - time & energy spent NOW on demonizing WHO is time wasted, that could be better utilized dealing with the problem on hand - the health and safety of a countries citizens.

There will be ample time later to play "j'accuse". Screaming "Fire, Fire" well after a blaze has started aids no-one but hands on will help. You can find the cause after the fire is controlled.

People are currently trying to establish what went wrong, and how it went wrong. Do you know when the next pandemic will begin? Neither does anyone else. It doesn't appear that the WHO, the WORLD'S health organization, dropped the ball, or worse. Should the world expect the WHO to do a better job? I think they should. Who is going to make the WHO to do a better job? Bill Gates? He's certainly is in a position to do so.  Putting a big dent in the WHO's budget is certainly going to get their attention. I suspect that a new, and better, WHO will emerge after a few changes are made at the top.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Except that day one wasn’t mid March.

We know because it was January.

@Silvafan

The quote you included from January 14 states that the WHO reported that there was no evidence of human to human transmission. Hardly a dire warning to the world.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Victor:

WHO had to order China to close right away

The WHO is not ordering China to do anything; China is ordering the WHO what to say.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

WHO is incompetent, stupid and useless!!! WHO had to order China to close right away and not let anybody out until the virus is fully contained!!!

WHO had to order all stupid, incompetent and useless governments to close the countries and not let anybody in until virus is contained!!!

Why we have so stupid people in charge of WHO and governments???

We must get rid of these idiots and morons and elect smart competent people!!!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The CCP did, and the WHO was complicit. That is a not a conspiracy theory

This is the exact definition of a conspiracy theory. It's a theory of a conspiracy, for which the only proof offered is an inference made about the timeline of what happened:

That is the obvious conclusion if you look at the timeline (beginning with the first infection problems in November, and the reaction by the CCP).

If you think that is the obvious conclusion, the you have an extremely simplistic world view, and your ability to accurately determine what is going on based on the available evidence is called into serious question.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Alfie Noakes:

Erm....excuse me, but are you actually claiming that the WHO and China worked together to deliberately spread Covid-19 around the world? Is that what you mean by this sentence?

The CCP did, and the WHO was complicit. That is a not a conspiracy theory, that is the obvious conclusion if you look at the timeline (beginning with the first infection problems in November, and the reaction by the CCP).

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

The World Health Organization insisted Monday that it sounded the alarm on the novel coronavirus right from the very start

The "very start" being when China gave WHO the go ahead to declare a pandemic. Time to look at Tedros' private overseas bank accounts.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Just a little reference on UN in terms of their operational budget. Do take a look...

US and Japan are their top 2 (two).

https://factly.in/united-nations-budget-contributions-by-member-countries/

Now we need to know where the money is flowing to. We know now about the target funding that China apparently practiced.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

WilliBToday 11:48 am JST

browny1

Countries lead by intelligence & a serious understanding - eg NZ, Germany, Taiwan, Australia, SK, etc - , swiftly put programs into action based on WHO data/info

What is Taiwan doing in your list?

Thanks for your reply. Yes you are correct. I should have noted after based on WHO "and their own data/info and initiative".

In fact Taiwan was exemplary as one of the countries in my short list of leading by intelligence & serious understanding. A pity many other countries, incl the US, didn't follow the example set by Taiwan.

.............................................................................................................................................................................................................

Sh1mon M4sadaToday 12:58 pm JST

Any country still focussing their fight with corona on WHO attacks, are playing political browny point games at the expense of their citizens health.

The evidence says otherwise, all countries who ignored the WHO and imposes unilateral actions independent of the WHO has faired much better than countries that relied on the WHO.

And thank you for your response. I think you misunderstood my comment. I was simply saying - time & energy spent NOW on demonizing WHO is time wasted, that could be better utilized dealing with the problem on hand - the health and safety of a countries citizens.

There will be ample time later to play "j'accuse". Screaming "Fire, Fire" well after a blaze has started aids no-one but hands on will help. You can find the cause after the fire is controlled.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Well, unless he gets his full funding plus some extra and everyone stops criticizing him, then he will 'see what he can do' about this?

First, you of course left out the more important part : "Without national unity and global solidarity, trust us, the worst is yet ahead of us,", second, are you honestly accusing the WHO of blackmailing everyone in order to obtain more funding? Is that really how you view the world?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@Blacklabel

Except that day one wasn’t mid March.

We know because it was January.

Jan. 14

WHO officials gave conflicting signals about whether there is human-to-human transmission. At a press conference in Geneva, Maria Van Kerkhove of WHO's emerging diseases unit told a Reuters reporter: "From the information that we have it is possible that there is limited human-to-human transmission, potentially among families, but it is very clear right now that we have no sustained human-to-human transmission." However, that same day WHO tweeted a different take, stating that "Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China" and also told an NPR reporter that Van Kerkhove had been misunderstood and there was in fact no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

Or maybe you meant Donnie by mistake!

March 17

Trump told reporters: "This is a pandemic. ... I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic."

It can be confusing when you believe Donnie who is always projecting!

Webster's dictionary defines **Projection, in part, as: "the externalization of blame, guilt, or responsibility as a defense against anxiety."**

4 ( +4 / -0 )

The head of WHO warns that 'the worst' of the coronavirus pandemic is 'ahead of us'

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-who-head-warns-worst-pandemic-is-ahead-of-us-2020-4

Well, unless he gets his full funding plus some extra and everyone stops criticizing him, then he will 'see what he can do' about this?

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

How so? Announcing a pandemic (too late at that)

You clearly do not understand what "announcing a pandemic" means for the WHO and the world. There is no way to announce a pandemic "too late". A basically pandemic means that an epidemic has reached several countries at the same time. It is nothing more than that. The moment the covid-19 epidemic reached several countries, it was indeed declared a pandemic.

On the contrary, the WHO was criticising countries for imposing travel bans. If there was global uniform travel ban, Covid19 would be a Wuhan epidemic NOT a pandemic it is today.

China itself completely closed off Wuhan... And the disease still traveled around the world. For your "global uniform travel ban" to really work, it should have been implemented at least two weeks before the first severe cases even appeared (since the disease take up to two weeks to manifest). How exactly would you have justified and actually put in place a global travel ban in mid-december 2019?

The evidence says otherwise, all countries who ignored the WHO and imposes unilateral actions independent of the WHO has faired much better than countries that relied on the WHO.

Please give us several examples of countries who completely ignored the WHO guidelines.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

One thing most people are overlooking, or don't want to talk about, is how Trump cut the CDC staff in China by two thirds between 2017 and 2019. They were cut because Team Trump was in a trade feud with China and didn't want to use U.S. money to support health efforts in China. Had that staff been running properly, it could have been more effective in slowing the outbreak from the beginning.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-cdc-exclusiv/exclusive-u-s-slashed-cdc-staff-inside-china-prior-to-coronavirus-outbreak-idUSKBN21C3N5

Trump has called this report "false", but has offered no specifics.

Lesson: cutting funding for health organizations because of politics gets people killed. Trump doesn't care.

@plasticmonkey

trump also disbanded and fired all the people and departments setup by Pres. Obama to fight global pandemics out of spite.

Talk about an incompetent leader!

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Let's look at those Nasty facts! You know the kryptonite to trump and his JT supporters!

Here's a timeline highlighting key quotes.

Jan. 5

The WHO reported a "pneumonia of unknown cause" in Wuhan, China.

The health organization advised against restrictions to China: "WHO advises against the application of any travel or trade restrictions on China based on the current information available on this event."

Jan. 9

The WHO released a statement announcing the source of the disease: "Chinese authorities have made a preliminary determination of a novel (or new) coronavirus, identified in a hospitalized person with pneumonia in Wuhan."

It added: "In the coming weeks, more comprehensive information is required to understand the current status and epidemiology of the outbreak, and the clinical picture."

Jan. 14

WHO officials gave conflicting signals about whether there is human-to-human transmission. At a press conference in Geneva, Maria Van Kerkhove of WHO's emerging diseases unit told a Reuters reporter: "From the information that we have it is possible that there is limited human-to-human transmission, potentially among families, but it is very clear right now that we have no sustained human-to-human transmission." However, that same day WHO tweeted a different take, stating that "Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China" and also told an NPR reporter that Van Kerkhove had been misunderstood and there was in fact no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

Jan. 22

Asked by CNBC whether there were any concerns about the virus spreading to the U.S., Trump responded: "We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine."

Jan. 23

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement that it was too early to declare the coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. "Make no mistake. This is an emergency in China, but it has not yet become a global health emergency. It may yet become one."

Jan. 24

In a tweet, Trump praised China for its efforts to prevent the spread of the virus. "China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!"

Jan. 29

Dr. Mike Ryan, head of the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, said, "The whole world needs to be on alert now. The whole world needs to take action and be ready for any cases that come from the epicenter or other epicenter that becomes established."

Jan. 30

At a campaign rally in Iowa, Trump talked about the U.S. partnership with China to control the disease. "We only have five people. Hopefully, everything's going to be great. They have somewhat of a problem, but hopefully, it's all going to be great. But we're working with China, just so you know, and other countries very, very closely. So it doesn't get out of hand."

Tedros announced that the outbreak had become a "public health emergency of international concern over the global outbreak of novel coronavirus."

Feb. 2

In an interview with Sean Hannity, Trump said, "We pretty much shut it down coming in from China." His executive order banning anyone who has been in China in the previous 14 days — with exceptions, including for U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents and their close family members — went into effect.

Feb. 4

At a WHO briefing, Tedros urged that there be no travel bans. "We reiterate our call to all countries not to impose restrictions that unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade. Such restrictions can have the effect of increasing fear and stigma, with little public health benefit. ... Where such measures have been implemented, we urge that they are short in duration, proportionate to the public health risks and are reconsidered regularly as the situation evolves."

Feb. 10

At a campaign rally in Manchester, N.H., Trump said: "Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. I hope that's true. But we're doing great in our country. China, I spoke with President Xi, and they're working very, very hard. And I think it's going to all work out fine."

Feb. 11

At a WHO briefing, Tedros urged world leaders to give priority to containing the virus: "To be honest, a virus is more powerful in creating political, economic and social upheaval than any terrorist attack. A virus can have more powerful consequences than any terrorist action, and that's true. If the world doesn't want to wake up and consider this enemy virus as Public Enemy Number 1, I don't think we will learn our lessons."

Feb. 13

In an interview with Geraldo Rivera, Trump characterized the threat of the virus in the U.S. by saying: "In our country, we only have, basically, 12 cases, and most of those people are recovering and some cases fully recovered. So it's actually less."

Feb. 24

In a tweet, Trump wrote, "The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!"

Feb. 26

In a news conference, Trump said: "When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that's a pretty good job we've done."

Feb. 28

The WHO raises the global risk of the coronavirus from "high" to "very high."

March 5

In a WHO briefing, Tedros praised China and the U.S. for taking "the right approach." He said: "After our visit to Beijing and seeing China's approach, and President Xi leading that, and also in the U.S., President Trump himself, and also for regular coordination, designating the vice president. These are the approaches we're saying are the right ones, and these are the approaches we're saying are going to mobilize the whole government."

In a Fox News town hall, Trump said, "It's going to all work out. Everybody has to be calm. It's all going to work out."

March 10

In a meeting with Republican senators at the U.S. Capitol, Trump said, "This was unexpected. ... And it hit the world. And we're prepared, and we're doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away."

March 11

Trump said in an Oval Office address: "The vast majority of Americans, the risk is very, very low."

Tedros said the WHO had "made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic."

March 16

"You cannot fight a fire blindfolded. And we cannot stop this pandemic if we don't know who is infected," Tedros said at a briefing in Geneva. He added, "We have a simple message for all countries: test, test, test. Test every suspected case."

At a press briefing, Trump issued orders to control the spread of the virus in the U.S.: "My administration is recommending that all Americans, including the young and healthy, work to engage in schooling from home when possible. Avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 people. Avoid discretionary travel. And avoid eating and drinking at bars, restaurants and public food courts. If everyone makes this change or these critical changes and sacrifices now, we will rally together as one nation and we will defeat the virus. And we're going to have a big celebration all together. With several weeks of focused action, we can turn the corner and turn it quickly."

March 17

Trump told reporters: "This is a pandemic. ... I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic."

March 21

Trump tweeted about potential coronavirus treatments: "HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. The FDA has moved mountains - Thank You! Hopefully they will BOTH (H works better with A, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents)....."

March 23

In a WHO briefing, Tedros said, "Using untested medicines without the right evidence could raise false hope and even do more harm than good."

He also said that the "pandemic is accelerating. ... It took 67 days from the first reported case to reach the first 100,000 cases, 11 days for the second 100,000 cases and just four days for the third 100,000 cases."

March 24

Trump said: "Easter is a very special day for me. And I see it sort of in that timeline that I'm thinking about. And I say, wouldn't it be great to have all of the churches full?"

March 26

"We are at war with a virus that threatens to tear us apart," said Tedros to world leaders in a special virtual summit on the COVID-19 pandemic.

April 6

Dr. Mike Ryan, head of the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, said you can't lift a lockdown all at once. "You need to say, 'We will stop doing this element of the shutdown, and then we will wait, and we will look at the data. If that works, we go to the next stage and the next stage.' So a careful, calibrated stepwise exit from lockdown."

April 7

Trump criticized the WHO for mishandling the pandemic. "The WHO really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China-centric. We will be giving that a good look. Fortunately, I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?"

April 8

"Please don't politicize this virus," Tedros said in a briefing in Geneva after he was asked about Trump's remarks the day before. He later urged political leaders to "please quarantine politicizing COVID."

April 14

"Today I am instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus," Trump said in a briefing at the White House.

April 15

"We regret the decision of the president of the United States to order a halt in funding to the World Health Organization," said Tedros at a news conference.

Responding to the U.S. accusations, Ryan of the WHO said, "In the first weeks of January, the WHO was very, very clear."

"We alerted the world on January the 5th," Ryan said. "Systems around the world, including the U.S., began to activate their incident management systems on January the 6th. And through the next number of weeks, we've produced multiple updates to countries, including briefing multiple governments, multiple scientists around the world, on the developing situation — and that is what it was, a developing situation."

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Any country still focussing their fight with corona on WHO attacks, are playing political browny point games at the expense of their citizens health.

The evidence says otherwise, all countries who ignored the WHO and imposes unilateral actions independent of the WHO has faired much better than countries that relied on the WHO.

The opposite side of the coin is, IF the WHO is allowed to carry on in its present form, will the world survive the next crisis? How emboldened will the WHO be despite the current disaster?

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

This a complete falsehood.

How so? Announcing a pandemic (too late at that), does not mean it lead the world to contain Covid19, so that it's maintained as a Wuhan epidemic ONLY.

On the contrary, the WHO was criticising countries for imposing travel bans. If there was global uniform travel ban, Covid19 would be a Wuhan epidemic NOT a pandemic it is today.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

The WHO said there were 15 staff from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. health protection agency, detailed specifically to work with the organization on its COVID-19 response.

One thing most people are overlooking, or don't want to talk about, is how Trump cut the CDC staff in China by two thirds between 2017 and 2019. They were cut because Team Trump was in a trade feud with China and didn't want to use U.S. money to support health efforts in China. Had that staff been running properly, it could have been more effective in slowing the outbreak from the beginning.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-cdc-exclusiv/exclusive-u-s-slashed-cdc-staff-inside-china-prior-to-coronavirus-outbreak-idUSKBN21C3N5

Trump has called this report "false", but has offered no specifics.

Lesson: cutting funding for health organizations because of politics gets people killed. Trump doesn't care.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

The WHO has been acting as a CCP mouthpiece, aiding the CCP in spreading the virus world-wide as soon as the CCP recognized it as a danger.

Erm....excuse me, but are you actually claiming that the WHO and China worked together to deliberately spread Covid-19 around the world? Is that what you mean by this sentence?

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Yeah, the CCP guy "from" Taiwan is in a little bit of trouble I heard.

wonder how he got in there to begin with?

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3917938

"China-based journo who posed as Taiwanese reporter faces heavy fine"

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

browny1

Countries lead by intelligence & a serious understanding - eg NZ, Germany, Taiwan, Australia, SK, etc - , swiftly put programs into action based on WHO data/info

What is Taiwan doing in your list? Taiwan is not member of the WHO and ignored the dangerous wrong advice from the WHO (e.g. about masks and travel bans not being necessary and Corona not having human-to-human transmission). Instead, Taiwan acted against the WHO advice and took precautions early. THAT is why Taiwan is successful.

The WHO has been acting as a CCP mouthpiece, aiding the CCP in spreading the virus world-wide as soon as the CCP recognized it as a danger.

So please to not try to muddle the water with false information.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

The only big news network that is not completely on the Trump-bashing wagon.

Which incidentally if also the most watched network in America. And "not completely on the Trump-bashing wagon" is a really gracious euphemism for a channel that has become the propaganda arm of the administration, going as far as dictating the decisions of the president. Which in itself (one channel actually influencing public policy) should be scary to absolutely everyone in the country or around it.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

America should worry about it failed response to the virus, not Chinese, Trump fail the US bigly

2 ( +3 / -1 )

PTownsend:

Fox cable 'news'

Ah, the kneejerk "Fox" (or "Faux" as your echo chamber usually spells it) response. The only big news network that is not completely on the Trump-bashing wagon. This is one single outlier, so spare us.

and Fox's 200+ regional TV stations; Sinclair Broadcasting and their 250+ TV stations; Limbaugh on 600+ radio stations

None of these small operations are ever represented at the press briefings, so what is this red herring about? The only small news station that I saw represented at a press briefing was "Phoenix" from Hong Kong, which unsurprisingly turned out to be owned by the CCP.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

quercetum:

Why doesn’t the US recognize Taiwan as a country?

Good question! Many countries should ask themselves that now. Of course it is hard to go against the CCP once a large part of your countries supply chains have moved to Communist China. I hope we see a lot of de-coupling from now on.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

It has been corrupted by the CCP. 

Ok, so could you give us several examples (with links to reputable sources, of course) of how the WHO is corrupt and was infiltrated by China until becoming its "mouthpiece"? That would be helpful to form an opinion on the matter.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Daryl:

WHO was a useless corrupt organization from the start. Glad Trump pulled out the funding for a useless band of morons.

Not quite true. The WHO was not a corrupt organization when it was founded. It has been corrupted by the CCP. And Trump did permanently pull the funding; he has suspended it until the WHO rids itself of the CCP corruption. Which it absolutely must. It is dissappointing (but not surprising) that the corrup EU leaders continue to fund the WHO.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

For the WHO, in the eye if the world, a pandemic still has not started. 

This a complete falsehood.

http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-emergencies/coronavirus-covid-19/news/news/2020/3/who-announces-covid-19-outbreak-a-pandemic

12-03-2020

WHO announces COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Day One for the WHO certainly wasn’t in mid March

For the WHO, in the eye if the world, a pandemic still has not started. There is not a single WHO advice to impose travel ban, even to this day. Every country, EVEN CHINA, now has travel ban in place. What does that say about WHO leadership? Not to mention the WHO was still criticising countries for imposing China travel bans, in February.

The WHO abdicated its leadership, in absence of leadership countries have basically acted on their own.

What the world must do immeduately is establish an alternative, so as to protect WHO staffs that actually do their job. The only way to do that is redirect funding from the current WHO. IF we fail to do so, CCP rules will prevail. Just look at Abe, he's more afraid of CCP punishment than wealfare of Japanese citizens.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

WHO and it's possibly in-bed relationship with China is of little importance at the moment in this crisis.

It is obviously being used as a bash attack in a blame game, and to divert attention from others own foibles.

As Jsapc & BigYen mentioned and linked to, there has been tons of data/warnings released from at least January.

In the US the potential crisis was acknowledged by Trump with his abrupt banning of Chinese people into the country.

The problem was that this Big-Stick scowly face moment was never immediately followed up with any sense of urgency, organizational clout or leadership to confront the myriad of associated problems.

WHO did give out real info.

Countries lead by intelligence & a serious understanding - eg NZ, Germany, Taiwan, Australia, SK, etc - , swiftly put programs into action based on WHO data/info. Even now, such places acknowledge they are far, far from seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but do know that they are slowly clearing the way for a best as possible return to "normalcy" - whatever that may be.

Any country still focussing their fight with corona on WHO attacks, are playing political browny point games at the expense of their citizens health.

Sad.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

The World Health Organization is not a political organization, despite the accusations of being "deferential" to China.

And even if it was... Why would you not then do everything you can to then replace China's influence in the WHO with your own? Instead of letting an enemy of your country (in your worldview) take your place on the global stage? This is one of the most incomprehensible paradox for me with the current administration : proudly claiming they are number one in the world, and then actively doing everything they can not be be that.

Why should we expect a moral stand on Taiwan from the World Health Organization

Because that's the only thing the american right has to hang on to now. This is the new low they have sunk to. Attacking the WHO instead of acknowledging their own and their leader's mistake. Any target will do as long as the blame can be shifted. Noone is safe, probably not even the Pope.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

WHO insists it hid nothing, sounded virus alarm from start

LOL, right. And in related news, Dear Leader Kim declares that there is no infection North Korea.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

WHO had to be aware that the Beijing Government had ruthlessly put into effect a full campaign to silence whistle-blowers, medical staff and researchers. Anyone with knowledge of the catastrophic risk/danger ahead. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus remaining in his role could and probably will damage WHO, possibly irreparably.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Communist Chinese government mouthpiece

Could you give us several examples (with links to reputable sources, of course) of how the WHO is corrupt and was infiltrated by China until becoming its "mouthpiece", since its creation in 1948 up to today? That would be helpful to form an opinion on the matter.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Trump was right to withhold funding from this Communist Chinese government mouthpiece, which, along with the Chinese government, is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people and a lot of economic hardship.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

@jenn cats

Alright WHO leadership, if you're so confident about the lack of bias in your decision making schema, then there won't be a problem allowing the free country of Taiwan to enter, right? right?

Why doesn’t the US recognize Taiwan as a country?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

WHO was a useless corrupt organization from the start. Glad Trump pulled out the funding for a useless band of morons.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Except that day one wasn’t mid March.

You're mistaken : mid March is the date when Trump began reacting to the pandemic.

The WHO publicly mentioned a "cluster of pneumonia cases" on January 5th:

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1213523866703814656

On the 15th it acknowledged the first case outside China:

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1217151178884222976

On the 21st a team visited Wuhan for the first time:

https://www.who.int/china/news/detail/22-01-2020-field-visit-wuhan-china-jan-2020

And held a meeting about the disease the very next day, where they fully warned the whole world disease had the potential to become a pandemic:

https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/23-01-2020-statement-on-the-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee-regarding-the-outbreak-of-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov)

"It is expected that further international exportation of cases may appear in any country. Thus, all countries should be prepared for containment, including active surveillance, early detection, isolation and case management, contact tracing and prevention of onward spread of 2019-nCoV infection, and to share full data with WHO."

Everything is right there, in black and white. You can't really rewrite history in this day and age.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

"We have been warning from day one that this is a devil that everyone should fight."

Tedros' language always lacks clarity. First, "devil" is a poor descriptive term even for a GP standard. Then, by using "should" (in "everyone should fight"), he meant that fighting against this deadly virus is optional.

Tedros, you are not good enough to be the Head of WHO. To date, this world has suffered so much because of your incapacity and negligence. You must resign for the integrity of WHO and for the future benefits of the whole world.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Unfortunately for the WHO in specific, and the world in general, being innocent of the act the US accuses you of is no defence.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

PTownsend - And given most Americans get news from social media, who knows how many blogs and other sites cater their messages to a pro-Trump crowd. And that's just in the US.

Social media is a terrible place for anyone to get their "news" from. Comedians are also a terrible source of "news". Late night talk show hosts are also a poor source of "news". Jokes, sarcasm, twisted spinning political rants are what many of these so-called "news" sources are known for.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

"Day one" is whatever the eye of the beholder wishes or states it to be......

Either way WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus must stand down. Resign already. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesusis a liability.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

And given most Americans get news from social media, who knows how many blogs and other sites cater their messages to a pro-Trump crowd. And that's just in the US.

Well, the liberal media outnumbers the conservative media 2-1 on TV and cable, with the exception and huge success of FNC conservatives have always done better in radio and in print.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

The more is Tedros trying to stay at the WHO, the lesser can people trust whatever the organization says. Its credibility has been ruined.

Tedros and CCP leaders should never play down "global grudges" directed against them. Payback time will come.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The United States said Thursday it was "deeply disturbed that Taiwan's information was withheld from the global health community, as reflected in the WHO's January 14, 2020 statement that there was no indication of human-to-human transmission".

Except for the fact that there were indications of human-to-human transmission. Oops.

I would like to know why China was testing bats. Were they trying to find a cure for bats with a deadly virus?

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

The radio. How quaint. Comparing the radio to every “news” channel on basic and expanded cable tv plus nearly all the “journalists” on twitter.

plus at least 1/4th of Fox News is also liberal media too.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Look WHO's talking!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@fizzbitsCan you identify "his media"? I

Fox cable 'news' and Fox's 200+ regional TV stations; Sinclair Broadcasting and their 250+ TV stations; Limbaugh on 600+ radio stations, in the 'mainstream, corporate media' grouping to start with.

And given most Americans get news from social media, who knows how many blogs and other sites cater their messages to a pro-Trump crowd. And that's just in the US.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Alright WHO leadership, if you're so confident about the lack of bias in your decision making schema, then there won't be a problem allowing the free country of Taiwan to enter, right? right?

It was analyzed a couple of years ago that Taiwan's exclusion from the WHO would have catastrophic health implications.

The WHO excluded Taiwan out of advice from China and their political clout over the IGO.

What I'm talking about, trying to be logical.

cue the safe space sound byte: It's Trump fault a durr a durr

4 ( +7 / -3 )

ptownsend:

But watching Trump and his media scramble to protect his image

Can you identify "his media"? I watched yesterdays press conference, and the only questions were hostile "gotcha" attempts.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

'Who' knows how truthful any organization is being regarding when info and data were sent out. 

No, we do know how dishonest this crap organization has been, that’s an indisputable and irrefutable fact.

But watching Trump and his media scramble to protect his image,

So it’s ok for the liberal media to tear his image? Pretty partisan of you, don’t you think?

watch them using daily press conferences as televised rallies glorifying Trump, after Trump and his media have flat out lied so many times, after hearing Trump lie so many times it's pretty clear to all but Trump's most faithful followers he's trying to hide truth once again. Has anyone seen his latest tax info?

Well, that’s one side, we can make the same argument on how the msm media with their constant lies and distortions will do and say anything to sling mud over this guy day in and day out and good on him for not taking the bait and these press conferences and letting some of these idiot reporters throw a noose around his neck and if the Dems can delay or hold out aid prolonging it, they could care less as long as it hurts Trump going into the election this November.

Has anyone seen his latest tax info?

That’s so 2016....smh...

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Except that day one wasn’t mid March.

We have been warning from day one

2 ( +6 / -4 )

The United States has by far the highest death toll of any country, at more than 40,000 fatalities, and President Donald Trump has faced criticism over his handling of the pandemic.

'Who' knows how truthful any organization is being regarding when info and data were sent out.

But watching Trump and his media scramble to protect his image, watch them using daily press conferences as televised rallies glorifying Trump, after Trump and his media have flat out lied so many times, after hearing Trump lie so many times it's pretty clear to all but Trump's most faithful followers he's trying to hide truth once again. Has anyone seen his latest tax info?

0 ( +5 / -5 )

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