China defends Covid response after criticism by expert panel
BEIJING/WASHINGTON: China has defended its handling of the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday, but said it would “strive to do better” after independent experts criticised the speed of its response to a virus that has now killed more than two million people worldwide.
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response - which also criticised the World Health Organization over its response - said there was “potential for early signs to have been acted on more rapidly”. The panel, established by the WHO to independently study global responses to the virus, said it was clear that “public health measures could have been applied more forcefully by local and national health authorities in China in January”.
But foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying on Tuesday said China, which reported over 100 new cases for the seventh day, had imposed early measures, including a hard lockdown on Wuhan weeks after the virus was detected, that “reduced infections and deaths.”
In the US, as fatalities neared 400,000 the incoming Biden administration dismissed a move by President Donald Trump to remove flight restrictions imposed on much of Europe and Brazil. California meanwhile became the first state to top 3 million cases.
The World Economic Forum has pointed out that the coronavirus exposed the “catastrophic effects” of ignoring long-term risks such as pandemics, and the economic and political consequences could cause more crises for years to come. The WEF’s annual survey of global risks listed infectious disease and livelihood crises as the top “clear and present dangers” over the next two years.
Amid criticism of vaccine nationalism, the European Union is mulling a mechanism that would allow the sharing of surplus vaccines with poorer neighbouring states and Africa, the EU health chief Stella Kyriakides said on Tuesday. The EU, with a population of 450 million, has already secured nearly 2.3 billion vaccines and candidates from six companies, although most of them still need regulatory approval.
As the virus continued to rage, Germany is discussing extending curbs while Hong Kong has decided to do so.