WHO revises timeline as global cases surpass 11mn
NEW DETAILS WHO says it was alerted about the virus by its own office in China
GENEVA:THE World Health Organization (WHO) has updated its account of the early stages of the Covid-19 crisis to say it was alerted by its own office in China, and not by China itself, to the first pneumonia cases in Wuhan.
The development comes as the number of coronavirus cases globally crossed 11 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The total number of fatalities has gone past 525,000.
On April 9, WHO published an initial timeline of its communications. In that chronology, WHO had said only that the Wuhan municipal health commission in the province of Hubei had on December 31 reported cases of pneumonia. The UN health agency did not specify who had notified it.
It shows that the WHO office in China on December 31 notified its regional point of contact of a case of “viral pneumonia” after having found a declaration for the media on a Wuhan health commission website on the issue.
Meanwhile, the WHO said the number of cases worldwide is more than double the figure for severe influenza illnesses recorded annually.
Spain’s Catalonia region on Saturday locked down an area with around 200,000 residents near the town of Lerida following a surge in cases.
The move came as the summer holiday started in Spain and the country began readmitting foreign visitors from 12 countries outside the EU. It had already opened its frontiers to people from the EU’S visa-free Schengen zone and Britain on June 21.
Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday watered down a law requiring the wearing of face masks in public places to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The Brazilian leader used his veto power to remove articles obliging people to wear masks in shops and churches.
Australia’s Victoria state recorded 108 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, forcing authorities to lock down nine public housing towers and three more Melbourne suburbs.
CHINA REBUFFS STUDY, SAYS G4 FLU IS NOT NEW SHANGHAI: China’s ministry of agriculture and rural affairs said the G4 strain of the swine flu virus is not new and doesn’t infect or sicken humans and animals easily, rebuffing a study published this week. That study, by Chinese scientists and published by the US journal PNAS, warned the new swine flu virus could become a potential “pandemic virus”.