By Balogun Damilola
The World Health Organisation says the report of delaying a global warning on the coronavirus pandemic is false.
Der Spiegel, a German news outlet, had published a report saying Germany’s federal intelligence service, known as the Bundesnachrichtendienst or BND, discovered that China urged the WHO not to alert the world about the pandemic early enough.
It also alleged that Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, communicated over the phone on January 21.
The report said WHO was asked to withhold information of a person-to-person transmission of the virus.
“According to the BND, China has urged the World Health Organization (WHO) to delay a global warning after the outbreak of the virus at the highest level,” the report read.
“On January 21, China’s head of state Xi Jinping during a phone call with WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus asked to withhold information about a person-to-person transmission and to postpone a pandemic warning.”
But in a tweet on Sunday, the health agency denied the report, saying Ghebreyesus has never communicated with the Chinese president over the phone.
“Statement on False Allegations in Der Spiegel: Reports of a 21 Jan phone call between Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and China President Xi Jingping are unfounded and untrue,” the tweet read.
“They didn’t speak on 21 Jan and they have never spoken by phone. Such inaccurate reports distract and detract from WHO’s and the world’s efforts to end #COVID-19.
“China confirmed human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus on 20 Jan. 2020”
On January 14, WHO had announced that investigation showed no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus.
“Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in Wuhan, China,” it had tweeted.
But a week after, the health agency took a turn saying human-to-human transmission is occurring in Wuhan, after the Chinese authorities presented epidemiological information that revealed an increase in the number of cases, of suspected cases, of affected provinces, and the proportion of deaths.
On January 30, the WHO declared the outbreak a global health emergency, appealing for $675 million to fund a three-month response plan.
A month earlier, Li Wenliang, a Chinese doctor who raised the alarm over the disease, was summoned by the police for “rumour-mongering.”
The WHO director-general had on two occasions praised China over its handling of the disease.
After a meeting with President Xi Jinping in Beijing on January 28, Ghebreyesus said WHO appreciated “the seriousness with which China is taking this outbreak, especially the commitment from top leadership, and the transparency they have demonstrated, including sharing data and genetic sequence of the virus.”
But US President Donald Trump had expressed allegations of bias in the handling of the pandemic by the WHO.
Trump had expressed concern over a “China centric” approach by the agency and threatened to cut US funding.
“The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look,” he had tweeted
Over four million cases of COVID-19 have been reported globally with at least 280,000 deaths.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government has also discredited claims suggesting that it covered-up some important aspects of its handling of the pandemic.