Trump calls WHO China-centric, blames it for bad advice during initial stage of Coronavirus outbreak

WHO delayed to declare Coronavirus as a global pandemic
Donald Trump said WHO "really blew it' on Coronavirus and criticised for the advice the agency had given considering the COVID-19 pandemic
Here is a timeline of how the health agency dealt of the COVID-19 outbreak

By Bhaswati Guha Majumder
April 8, 2020 12:50 +08

Did the new coronavirus come for bats?

There are now questions about how the World Health Organization (WHO) reacted to the Coronavirus pandemic and how it selected its favourite side. The world leader who questions its actions is none other than US President Donald Trump.

On Tuesday, April 7 Trump criticized WHO while accusing it of being too focused on China and issuing bad advice during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Trump criticized WHO

The US President took it to the social media and wrote, "The W.H.O. 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?"

As of now, US has recorded 398,809 Coronavirus infection cases and more than 12,800 deaths in the country while the majority of the death toll has been reported in New York state.

donald-trump-on-border-wall-during-state-of-the-union-i-will-get-it-built — Donald Trump

Coronavirus situation became worse

If we go back in time, we will see that China reported its first case of the Novel Coronavirus in December 2019, from Hubei's Wuhan city, which was the initial epicentre of the outbreak. An article in 'National Review' revealed how China hid information about the virus at the beginning. Even though the first patient of COVID-19 was identified on December 1 and Wuhan doctors started finding several similar cases in the second week, authorities silenced the doctors from revealing the truth.

China continued to hide the healthcare emergency for three weeks and then reported it to the WHO on Dec. 31. Later, The Geneva-based organization declared the Novel Coronavirus a global pandemic in March while it declared a public health emergency of international concern, its "highest level of alarm", on January 30 after Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus held a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the visit to China. On January 31, the health organization, however, advised countries to keep their borders open despite the outbreak, although it noted that countries had the right to take measures to try to protect their citizens.

WHO misled the world nations

Even though by the end of January, people started assuming that the Coronavirus would surpass all the previous records of the outbreak including the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, but WHO has skill-fully delayed assessing the situation and announced the COVID-19 a pandemic more than a month after.

It should be noted that the delay in calling the Coronavirus a pandemic allowed the community transmission of the disease among global passengers, who are let go without quarantine but now returning to hospitals with COVID-19 symptoms.

Funded by the UN member states, including China which is the second-largest donor after the US, WHO had come under criticism earlier also. In 2014 the world health agency dragged its feet downplaying the severity of the Ebola epidemic that claimed 11,300 lives in three West African countries for over two years.

However, on Tuesday, April 7 WHO's China representative, Gauden Galea said that the Asian country has offered "compelling" examples in mounting rigorous containment measures against the new Coronavirus and mobilizing nationwide efforts to aid hard-hit regions in the nation.

Xi Jinping with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus — Twitter/Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Here's a timeline of how WHO failed to react to COVID-19:

Dec. 31, 2019: China notifies the WHO that several cases of pneumonia caused by an unknown virus were reported in Hubei's Wuhan.

Jan. 7, 2020: WHO tells the world that China is beset with a new Coronavirus, which is similar to SARS and MERS.

Jan. 11: Three days after a 61-year-old man who had shopped at the Wuhan animal market dies, China officially admits the first death from the Novel Coronavirus.

Jan. 13: A woman who had travelled to Thailand from Wuhan becomes the first case reported by WHO outside China, followed by similar cases reported within a week from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, US and Vietnam.

Jan 23: Though global governments rushed to the WHO for an advisory but after a series of deliberations, the health agency decided not to declare it as a global outbreak and rules out that the Coronavirus outbreak qualifies to be a global concern despite China admitting that human-to-human transmission is possible.

Jan 24: After an emergency meeting, the WHO decided that the viral illness in China that has sickened 830 people will not be declared a global health emergency. WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said, "The focus is not so much on the numbers, which we know will go up. It's still too early to draw conclusions on how severe the virus is."

Jan 27: With more than 13 countries reporting new Coronavirus cases, WHO refuses to formally acknowledge it as an epidemic of global proportions. US, Europe and India heed WHO advise not to close borders.

Jan 28: WHO said it stands corrected from describing the risk as "very high in China, high at the regional level and high at the global level," was incorrect and termed it as High Risk at Global Level indicating the serious situation the world is facing but still preferred not to declare it as a health emergency.

Jan. 31: Finally, WHO declares the coronavirus outbreak a global emergency, not a pandemic.

Feb. 8: WHO mentions that there is a severe shortage in the supply of protective gear due to hoarding.

Feb 11: The health agency names the novel coronavirus 'SARS-Cov-2' and the disease caused by it 'COVID-19', and says that a new vaccine will be ready in 18 months.

Feb 19: WHO reports 92 cases of human-to-human transmission of COVID-19 outside China, across 12 countries.

March 6: WHO urges all countries to make containment a priority as the global total of confirmed cases crosses the 100,000-mark and stands at 101,583 while the death toll reaches 3,460.

March 7: The organization says COVID-19 is closer to becoming a pandemic but can be controlled through containment and mitigatory measures.

March 11: The agency finally declares the global outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic as the total number of cases across 118 affected countries reaches 121,564.

March 13: When the global death toll reaches 5,088, Italy reports 250 deaths in a single day with several European countries reporting an increasing number of cases, Tedros says that Europe is the new epicentre of the pandemic.

March 20: Amidst speculation that youth are not vulnerable to the coronavirus, WHO chief says, "You are not invincible."

March 23: WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says .the ."'pandemic is accelerating" and calls for countries to be aggressive in their approach.

March 26: WHO says that it is seeing "encouraging signs" as the number of deaths reported in Italy is reducing.

April 8: WHO has listed the first two diagnostic tests for emergency use during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The W.H.O. 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?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 7, 2020