Roving Periscope: Amid Covid-19 catastrophe, WHO team meets Chinese officials
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: A team of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) met with Chinese officials on Friday as the Asian country battled its worst-ever health crisis because of an unprecedented outbreak of the scourge this month that has left millions infected and thousands dead.
In 2020, when Covid-19 assaulted the world, the WHO was accused of toeing the Chinese line. China also steadfastly stonewalled all attempts of the WHO and others to investigate the source of origin of the virus or even visit the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Time and again, the world health watchdog received flak from around the world and was charged with diluting the role of China in the pandemic’s outbreak and pollination.
Barely had the WHO restored some of its prestige that China itself is now afflicted with the horror of the pandemic. Its hospitals are overwhelmed with a mounting number of infected people and morgue and crematoria are battling with piles of corpses for cremation—so much so that the mourning families are forced to keep dead bodies at home until allowed to transport them for cremation.
It is against this grim background that a high-level meeting took place on Friday between the officials of WHO and China about the current surge in Covid-19 cases, to seek further information on the situation, and to offer WHO’s expertise and support, the media reported.
But an obstinate China, which stopped sharing the real-time data with the rest of the world, apparently, remained non-committal again.
High-level officials from China’s National Health Commission and the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration briefed WHO on their evolving strategy and actions in the areas of epidemiology, monitoring of variants, vaccination, clinical care, communication, and R&D.
WHO again asked the Chinese for regular sharing of specific and real-time data on the epidemiological situation — including more genetic sequencing data, data on disease impact including hospitalizations, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and deaths — and data on vaccinations delivered and vaccination status, especially in vulnerable people and those over 60 years old. It reiterated the importance of vaccination and boosters to protect against severe disease and death for people at higher risk.
The health body called on China to strengthen viral sequencing, clinical management, and impact assessment and expressed willingness to provide support in these areas, and on risk communications on vaccination to counter hesitancy.
It invited Chinese scientists to present detailed data on viral sequencing at the January 3 meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution, and to get engaged more closely in WHO-led Covid-19 expert networks, including the Covid-19 clinical management network.
WHO stressed the importance of monitoring and the timely publication of data to help China and the global community to formulate accurate risk assessments and to inform effective responses.
