By 28 March 2020, the number of Corona cases in the world has reached 5,91,802 and the United States leads with 1,01,657 cases. Till now 26,996 deaths have been reported. But a month ago, the situation was different.

Till 27th February, China reported 79,251 cases which hasn't changed much till this date. Outside China, the number of cases were just 4,351 in 49 countries and 67 deaths. In a months time, China reported a little over 3000 new cases whereas the count in the rest of the world has reached 5 lakhs. The WHO is being held responsible for this situation.

The WHO

World Health Organization was established in 1948 and it has a big role in world healthcare. 

                   

It's main role is that it provides leadership in matters related to health and engaging in partnerships where joint leadership is required. It brings the health ministries/departments of all the countries on a common platform and provides them a leadership. It leads research agendas i.e. shares knowledge with one country to the rest of the world.

The role of WHO in increasing the number of cases

• DISEASE: 2019-novel coronavirus (COVID-19)

• VIRUS: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)✨

The SARS CoV2 originated in the wet markets of Wuhan. For more than a month, several cases of pneumonia were popping up but were being buried down by the local governing body of Wuhan city and Hubei province, the whistleblowers were being silenced and WHO was with China in this propaganda.

There are a few reports which suggest that the first few cases were reported in November of 2019 but China buried all of it. The WHO was informed on 31st December that cases of COVID-19 were reported in December.

WHO and the initial delay

The first case of Wuhan virus was seen in November but the Chinese government silenced the whistleblowers. The world came to know about it in mid/late January. It thus gave two months to the disease to spread unnoticed. The WHO spread false information which can still be seen in it's undeleted tweet of January 14th saying that there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission of Wuhan virus. By 16th January, many countries like United States, India restricted flights from Wuhan and China and issued travel advisories to the people. But WHO disapproved this step and tweeted on January 11th that: " WHO doesn't recommend any specific health measures for travellers to and from Wuhan. It is generally considered that entry screening offer little benefit while requiring considerable resources." Such kind of statements show irresponsibility of WHO. 

WHO and it's present Director General

The person in focus is the present Director General of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the ex-health minister of Ethiopia.

He is related to the ruling party of Ethiopia. Dr. Ghebreyesus is being accused of favouring China. The reason behind it is that China made huge investments in Ethiopia and under the One Belt One Road(OBOR) project has completed many projects. It's being said that Ethiopia wants to be in good list of China.

Praising China's "efforts"

Dr. Ghebreyesus visited China on 28th January, when Wuhan had already shutdown on 23rd January. He met President Xi Jinping and showered China with praises.

                 

He said China has set a new standard for outbreak control and praised the country's top leadership for it's "openness to sharing information" when other countries were criticizing China for the death of the whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang who himself died of Wuhan virus.

The WHO had released a report in praise of China. These were not just statements made in social media but these are on-record statements.

WHO reaction to 2003 SARS outbreak

Dr. Ghebreyesus inaction stands in stark contrast to the WHO's action during the SARS outbreak in China. The then WHO DG Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the 2 time PM of Norway, made history by declaring the WHO's first travel advisory in 55 years which recommended against travel to and from the disease epicentre in Southern China.

                   

Even though Dr. Ghebreyesus has remained the Health Minister, he's not a politician. So it is being said that he can't stand against China i.e. he can't bluntly face China. Dr. Brundtland had also criticized China for endangering global health by attempting to cover up the outbreak by arresting whistleblowers and censoring media. Most of the information related to it was known to the world through Hong Kong and international media.

China's GDP has increased exponentially between 2005 and 2015 ( from 1.66 trillion dollars to 12 trillion dollars) and that of United States is 21-22 trillion dollars.

This GDP growth has given immense powers to China.

WHO and Chinese money

WHO requires voluntary budgetary contributions to meet it's requirements (like fighting Ebola and Zika viruses). The more a country contributes, the more is it's influence in WHO. China's contribution in WHO has grown by 52% since 2014 to approximately $86 million.

China had also given full support to Dr. Ghebreyesus in the DG election of 2017.

China also promised to carry out WHO projects along with OBOR projects. Under this, one office per country was opened for WHO. So there is definitely no doubt that WHO is very much influenced by China.

The Taiwan Angle

Another result of money power of China is in keeping Taiwan out of WHO. Taiwan recently confirmed that it had warned the WHO about h to h transmission of COVID-19 on 31st December 2019. The same day Mainland China misinformed WHO that no h to h transmission was observed. However the WHO ignored the advice of Taiwan and went with China.

WHO could have issued travel restrictions earlier so that lockdown in China could be preponed to atleast 15th January.

✨ From 24th January to 30th January, China goes into celebration mood for their biggest festival which is their new year. This promotes mass movement of people. This time about 50lakhs people travelled out of Wuhan. This could have been stopped.✨

WHO and virus naming

Official names of viruses are after the place of their origin or rivers like: Ebola, Zika, Hanta viruses. But the disease was named COVID-19 and people were asked not to call if Wuhan/Chinese Virus.

WHO and delay in declaring pandemic

WHO tried to calm the talk of pandemic and said the " word doesn't fit the facts". It was declared a pandemic on 11th March. Had it been declared a pandemic earlier, countries would have taken it more seriously.

✨ Causes why COVID-19 became a pandemic

1) Absence of accurate information about the pathogens.

2) Failure of basic public services; here, the failure to regulate food and market places to prevent the transmission of pathogens

3) Failure to shutdown transportation and control movement during their new year leave.✨