WHO cooperation with China a message of global solidarity: Dutch virologist
The World Health Organization (WHO)-led team of international experts in cooperation with the Chinese side sent a message of global solidarity as the whole world will benefit if the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) outbreak in China could be stopped, a Dutch virologist who served several WHO committees told the Global Times.
China and the WHO will form a joint expert team to conduct in-depth discussions and evaluations of the COVID-19 epidemic and containment. The WHO’s advance team arrived in Beijing on Monday.
Professor Marion Koopmans, head of the viroscience department at the Erasmus MC Rotterdam in the Netherlands told the Global Times via email that it’s good practice to bring in colleagues to review what is going on, what the challenges are and where the global community of experts could help.
“This is not a lack of trust in what China or Chinese scientists do or can do. But we understand the challenge and may be able to share some burden of the work,” Koopmans told the Global Times.
Koopmans is a proposed member of the WHO emergency committee for COVID-19. The emergency committee meeting on January 30 declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
She has served as a member of the WHO emergency committee on MERS and the Food and Agricultural organization committees on MERS and Ebola.
Regarding the nationalities of the international experts who are coming to China, Koopmans said that expert advice needs to be provided by the best people for the job, and they need to be trusted and impartial in terms of how they review information.
Koopmans suggested the China-WHO to discuss topics Chinese experts proposed and research priorities.
There are topics that China is working on but us joining in the efforts may move things faster, as there are so many unanswered questions about this virus, Koopmans said.
“The message is one of global solidarity, which is important. If China succeeds in stopping this, the whole world will benefit,” Koopmans said.