Disastrously bad so-called "science" at the World Health Organisation has caused over 1,300,000 avoidable deaths

The World Health Organisations's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has been disastrous - it has caused over 1,300,000 deaths.

The fundamental failure of the World Health Organisation's pandemic policies, which are founded on the International Health Regulations (2005), is that they fail to recognise that when there is substantial cryptotransmission of a novel infective agent that in-country "Identify, Test, Trace and Isolate" measures won't work. 

At least the "Identify, Test, Trace and Isolate" strategy won't work in terminating an epidemic (except where preparations have already been put in place to separate infected, or potentially infected, individuals from the susceptible general population).

Why?

Because when cryptotransmission is substantial, the "Identify" element of the "Identify, Test, Trace and Isolate" tetraptych doesn't work.

You can't identify all those who are infected.

If you can't identify all those who are likely to be infected then you can't test those infected individuals that you have failed to identify.

If you can't test all infected individuals you won't be able to trace all their contacts, to some of whom they may have already spread the novel infective agent.

If you can't trace their contacts you can't isolate those infected individuals that you haven't tested or their contacts.

The whole strategy fails. 

Infection continues to be spread in-country by cryptotransmission.

The more cryptotransmission there is the more serious the effect of the failure of the "Identify" element of the "Identify, Test, Trace and Isolate" tetraptych.

Expressed colloquially, if you can't identify all those with the disease the "Identify, Test, Trace and Isolate" strategy won't work.

When the "Identify, Test, Trace and Isolate" strategy doesn't work (because of substantial cryptotransmission) then an infective agent with high transmissibility and moderate mortality will cause hundreds of thousands of deaths around the world.

The deadly spread of Covid-19 around the world demonstrates the truth of that assertion.

The International Health Regulations (2005) are not fit for purpose.

When a novel infective agent has moderate mortality, high transmissibility and substantial cryptotransmission - as the SARS-CoV-2 virus has - the deadly effects around the globe are entirely predictable. 

In 2005 the 58th World Health Assembly approved International Health Regulations that are predictably deadly when a novel infective agent has the characteristics of moderate mortality, high transmissibility and substantial cryptotransmission that the SARS-CoV-2 virus has.

The International Health Regulations (2005) need to be binned and replaced with International Health Regulations which are designed properly to protect global Public Health.

There was a global public health emergency on 7th January 2020

On 7th January 2020 Chinese scientists identified a new coronavirus, later named SARS-CoV-2, as the cause of an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan, China.

On 7th January 2020 a global public health emergency existed.

The global public health emergency was all the more dangerous because the World Health Organisation's pandemic strategy was incapable of responding properly to the identification of a new coronavirus like SARS-CoV-2 which had infected human beings.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus

• Caused significant mortality
• Was readily transmissible between human beings
• Had significant cryptotransmission
  

It took another 23 days until the World Health Organisation's Emergency Committee formally recognised the global public health emergency as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

Worse still, on 30th January 2020 the World Health Organisation's Emergency Committee asserted that international travel and trade should not be interfered with.

The Emergency Committee stated,

"The Committee does not recommend any travel or trade restriction based on the current information available."

See

Statement on the second meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) 

Later in the same statement the Emergency Committee stated,

"Under Article 43 of the IHR, States Parties implementing additional health measures that significantly interfere with international traffic (refusal of entry or departure of international travellers, baggage, cargo, containers, conveyances, goods, and the like, or their delay, for more than 24 hours) are obliged to send to WHO the public health rationale and justification within 48 hours of their implementation. WHO will review the justification and may request countries to reconsider their measures. WHO is required to share with other States Parties the information about measures and the justification received."

The message was clear.

The WHO didn't recommend any border controls and any country that implemented border controls had to report them within 48 hours to the WHO and could expect the WHO to shame them publicly if they couldn't prove that the border controls were necessary.

The WHO Emergency Committee was complying with the International Health Regulations (2005), at least as interpreted by WHO lawyers.

That decision of the WHO Emergency Committee in effect prohibited the only Public Health measure that could be expected to prevent a pandemic of Covid-19.

The Covid-19 pandemic has killed more than a million people and counting.

The World Health Organisation and its Emergency Committee are reponsible for those deaths.

There is an urgent need for radical revision of the International Health Regulations (2005) since they have caused over one million avoidable deaths from Covid-19.