China could have acted more quickly: WHO's pandemic response probe

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and China 'could have acted more quickly' in dealing with coronavirus. The pandemic response probe declared on Monday, regretting that the "largely hidden epidemic contributed to the global spread".

The group investigating the global response had concluded that China and WHO could have acted faster when Covid-19 first surfaced in December 2019 in Wuhan. Since then, the total number of infections has neared the 100 million mark.

The number of Covid-19 cases confirmed worldwide has surpassed 95 million. In contrast, the global Covid-19 death toll stands at over two million, according to the latest data from the Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center.

In its second report, Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPR) said that an evaluation of the "chronology of the early phase of the outbreak suggests that there was potential for early signs to have been acted on more rapidly".

The United States, India, and Brazil remain the top three countries in terms of the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases. Russia comes fourth. The US has registered 23,928,643 Covid-19 cases and has the largest Covid-19 death toll of all the world countries (397,500).

According to AFP, the panel found it was "clear" that "public health measures could have been applied more forcefully by local and national health authorities in China in January." It further slammed the WHO for dragging its feet at the start of the crisis, pointing out that the UN health agency had not convened its emergency committee until January 22, 2020.

And the committee failed to agree to declare the novel coronavirus outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) - its highest alert level - until a week later.