WHO Warned on Human-to-Human Transmission of COVID-19 in Early January – Report

US President Donald Trump and some members of his administration have recently accused the World Health Organization of being “China biased” and have threatened to cut agency funding.

The World Health Organization warned the US and other countries about the risk of coronavirus human-to-human transmission in January, when the outbreak began in China, even without clear evidence provided by Chinese studies that this kind of transmission was possible. 

The WHO on 10 January provided a comprehensive package of technical guidance and advice to countries on how to detect and prevent the disease, warning of human-to-human transmission, the Guardian reported, citing sources from top WHO officials. The organization confirmed issuing such guidance on their website, claiming that the package was shared “with WHO’s regional emergency directors to share with WHO representatives in countries”. However, the text of the guidelines was not made publicly available. 

On 22 January, the WHO posted on their website and said in press briefings that “human-to-human transmission is taking place in Wuhan”.

On 30 January, the WHO announced that COVID-19 had become a global health emergency.

Trump’s administration accusations

US President Donald Trump and some members of his administration have repeatedly blamed the organization of trying to conceal the true danger of the coronavirus pandemic. Trump claimed during a press conference at the White House, that the WHO “got it wrong in many ways”. 

Trump mulled the possibility of cutting funding for the WHO, blaming it for being “China-centric”.

​​Trump’s position was quickly echoed by GOP Senator Lindsey Graham.

The World Health Organization’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, responded to the accusation, recommending that the coronavirus pandemic should not be politicized.

The WHO shares all its information via websites and social media, providing guidelines and recommendations for public, countries, workplaces and institutions, while also keeping track of the number of confirmed cases around the world. According to the most recent data, there are over 1,500,000 cases globally with at least 94,000 fatalities.

Sourse: sputniknews.com