COVID review panel critical of China, WHO delay

Interim report says Chinese officials could have applied public health measures more forcefully, WHO took too long to declare international emergency.

Chinese officials could have applied public health measures more forcefully in January with the spread of the coronavirus and the World Health Organization (WHO) took too long to declare an international emergency, an independent panel reviewing the global handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has said.

The virus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, before seeping beyond the country’s borders to wreak global havoc, costing more than two million lives and eviscerating economies. 

Monday’s report comes on the day Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit released 3 Days that Stopped the World, which showed the city of Wuhan during a crucial period early in the pandemic.

Footage taken by two Chinese journalists and smuggled out of the country shows how the Chinese government failed to provide the necessary medical resources and attempts to censor journalists trying to report on the outbreak.