WHO says the China virus outbreak is not a world pandemic. AFP/Ricky Prakoso
AFP
ON THE WEB, 4 February 2020
The World Health Organisation said Tuesday that the outbreak of the deadly novel coronavirus, which has spread from China to two dozen countries, does not yet constitute a “pandemic”.
“Currently we are not in a pandemic,” Sylvie Briand, head of WHO’s Global Infectious Hazard Preparedness division, told reporters in Geneva.
Instead, she said, “we are at the phase where it is an epidemic with multiple foci.”
The disease has killed more than 425 people and infected a further 20,000 in China, nearly all of them in central Hubei province — the epicentre of the outbreak — and spread to two-dozen countries since it emerged in December.
Briand said that while there is rapid spread of transmission in Hubei, outside the province there are mainly “spillover cases” with sporadic clusters of transmission.
“In these other places in China, the strategy currently is to stop transmission,” she said, adding that the same was true for affected countries outside of China.
“We would like to make sure that we don’t have a second Hubei type of scenario,” she said.
Authorities in China have taken dramatic measures to halt transmission, while other affected countries have put in place steps to rein in the spread.
Wearing mask not enough
“Countries are implementing early case detection, early isolation and treatment of patients, contact tracing to make sure they identify very early contacts that become symptomatic,” Briand pointed out.
“We hope that based on … measures in Hubei but also in other places where we have had spillover, we can stop transmission and get rid of this virus,” she said.
She acknowledged that halting the spread of the new pneumonia-like virus would be “challenging”.
“I am not saying it is easy, but … we believe that it can be done,” she said.
The respiratory disease spreads through droplets, for instance when people sneeze or cough, or likely through direct contact with infected people or with objects they have touched.
But Briand said it remained unclear how long the virus could linger on an object, stressing the need for frequent hand-washing to protect against transmission.
“To stop transmission of this virus, it is very important that sick people wear masks” to avoid infecting others, she said, adding though the benefits of healthy people wearing masks as a precautionary measure were less clear.
People wearing masks but not taking other precautions like frequently washing their hands could have a “false sense of security”, she said.
“Masks alone are not enough. It is a package of measures that you have to put in place,” she said.
“If people use the entire package, it is fine. If they just use masks, I think it is not enough.”
The UN system which endorses the UN Secretary-General is deeply flawed. The five Permanent Members have the choice to endorse the candidate and this keeps the highest office holder of the UN hostage to the vagaries of the Permanent Members. Take the example of the present Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. He is missing in action in such a grave situation. He doesn’t want to be seen to do any thing that would jeopardise his chances of endorsement for a second term. So, he sends his representative to China to do the work for him. This guy was talking like he was Xi’s spokesman rather the UN. He heaped praises on supposed Chinese action in halting the deadly virus rather than condemning Xi for sitting on his arse since December till 23rd of January when the disease was wreaking havoc in Wuhan. Bodies were buried in dark the but never told what was happening. The ophthalmologist Li sounded the alarm bells of the impending doom but instead of acknowledging the danger, they forced him to sign he had committed “illegal act”.The disease was rampant by January 1st within the medical fraternity but they were forbade to speak out. This shows the UN spokesman who visited China was peddling the words of Xi devoid of ground reality. Whether its Banki Moon or Guterres, they are poodles of of big powers like China and work to secure their own seats by sucking up to the powers be rather than for the good of the people they are supposed to represent. Bunki Moon never uttered the word “TIbet” during his entire tenure and it will be no different with Guterres either. They have no power to speak their mind because the moment they say something against China they will lose their chance next time around. That is why the UN is nothing but a compliant mistress of the big five powers.
Unfortunately, what else could Mrs Sylvie Briand, head of the WHO’s Global Infectious….Division, say other than what she said about the present state of the deadly coronasvirus when her boss is taking the order from Xi Jinping as to what comments he should make on this “China-6Disease”.
First, the Director-General did not tell the world the truth. When the cat is out of the bag he heaped blind praise over the Chinese handling as superb when the world knows otherwise.
For the last 10-15 years the Chinese influence over the heads of various world orgazations has been increasing not to benefit the world as whole but to China only. It effectively means the image and reach of the CCP.
The Chinese influence is especially strong among the heads from the poor regions of the world becuase China liberally doles money. These regions are high in demand for fund but low in moral and a sense of responsibility and fairness. This explains the Chinese winning over.
The present head of WHO is from Etopia and Etopia is a poor country in North Africa.
So Mr. Xi Jinping plays international politics with the deadly disease of China.