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."
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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.
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