China and the World Health Organization could have acted faster to avert catastrophe during the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak, a panel of independent experts has concluded, APA reports citing Japan Times.
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response said its evaluation of the start of the crisis in China “suggests that there was potential for early signs to have been acted on more rapidly.”
Containment measures should have been implemented immediately in all countries where transmission was likely, the panel said in their second report, due to be presented to the WHO’s executive board on Tuesday.
COVID-19 was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019 before seeping beyond China’s borders to wreak global havoc, costing more than 2 million lives and eviscerating economies.
The panel said it was clear that “public health measures could have been applied more forcefully by local and national health authorities in China in January.”
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