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China never reported the existence of coronavirus outbreak, admits WHO

WION Web Team
NEW DELHIEdited By: Nikhil PandeyUpdated: Jul 03, 2020, 06:01 PM IST
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WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (file photo). Photograph:(AFP)

Story highlights

According to the American weekly news magazine The Washington Examiner, WHO changed the official timeline on their website removing the information about China reporting "a cluster of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan".

The World Health Organization backtracked on its attestation that the Chinese government alarmed the United Nations office about the flare-up of deadly coronavirus.

Also read: As China warns of another pandemic from pigs, WHO insists to 'not let our guard down'

According to the American weekly news magazine The Washington Examiner, WHO changed the official timeline on their website removing the information about China reporting "a cluster of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan".

"The WHO quietly updated its “Timeline of WHO’s response to COVID-19” on Tuesday following the House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans' mid-June Interim Report on Origins of COVID-19 Pandemic (led by ranking member and China task force Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas), which concluded that “despite public reporting to the contrary ... China never notified the WHO about the outbreak in Wuhan," reported The Washington Examiner.

The original “Timeline of WHO’s response to COVID-19” said:

December 31, 2019: Wuhan Municipal Health Commission, China, reported a cluster of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei Province. A novel coronavirus was eventually identified.

The changed version says:

December 31, 2019: WHO’s Country Office in the People’s Republic of China picked up a media statement by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission from their website on cases of ‘viral pneumonia’ in Wuhan, People’s Republic of China.

Meanwhile, 10,992,462 people around the world have been diagnosed with Covid-19 so far. Of them, 6,140,758 have recovered, and 524,039 have died, according to Worldometer.

The United States remains by far the worst affected country with 2,836,875 coronavirus cases and 131,477 deaths. It is followed by Brazil (1,501,353 cases, deaths 61,990), Russia (661,165 cases, 9,683 deaths), and India (627,168 cases, 18,225 deaths).

(With inputs from agencies)