Experts fear China reluctant to accept WHO ground mission
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2022
THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
Experts fear China reluctant to accept WHO ground mission

World+Biz

Reuters
13 February, 2020, 08:30 pm
Last modified: 13 February, 2020, 08:36 pm

Related News

  • Biden adviser Sullivan and China's Yang discuss regional security
  • China, US lead rise in global debt to record high $305 trillion - IIF
  • China in talks with automakers on EV subsidy extension -sources
  • China Junshi's potential Covid drug shows promise in small trial
  • Indonesia to drop outdoor mask mandate as Covid-19 infections drop

Experts fear China reluctant to accept WHO ground mission

Reuters
13 February, 2020, 08:30 pm
Last modified: 13 February, 2020, 08:36 pm
A logo is pictured on the World Health Organisation (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, November 22, 2017. Reuters/Denis Balibouse
A logo is pictured on the World Health Organisation (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, November 22, 2017. Reuters/Denis Balibouse

China is dragging its heels in accepting help on the ground from international health specialists, diplomats and experts said on Thursday, noting four days after a World Health Organization (WHO) advance team arrived in Beijing no details have been released on how and when the full mission will deploy.

China has recorded 48,206 cases of a new coronavirus, now known as SARS-CoV-2, which emerged in a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan in December. The virus has spread to 24 countries infecting more than 440 people, the WHO says.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, won a pledge from Chinese President Xi Jinping during his trip there two weeks ago that an international team would be able to help investigate the virus' origin and spread.

An "advance team" of three experts, led by Dr. Bruce Aylward, a WHO official and public health emergency expert from Canada, as well as WHO's Dr. Maria van Kerkhove, arrived in Beijing on Monday.

"Our advance team in China has made good progress in working out the composition of the team and the scope of its work. We hope to have more news to announce soon," Tedros told reporters on Wednesday night.

He has said the full mission would include 10-15 experts, but has given no details of who they would be or when they would go to China.

The death toll in Hubei province, which includes Wuhan, leapt by a record 242 on Thursday to 1,310, with a sharp rise in confirmed cases after the adoption of new methodology for diagnosis, health officials said.

"It would obviously have been better if the (mission) team had arrived without delay," a senior Western diplomat in Geneva told Reuters, though he added they could still do effective work with Chinese colleagues when they arrive.

"It's just been very worrying and troubling and we are not seeing as much of a substantive and independent role that we would expect at this point," he added.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday it had not yet been invited to send experts to China to assist with the WHO investigation.

"Not only was China very late in inviting international partners to help with the response, but we still only have a skeletal advance team in Beijing, and not Hubei province," Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health law at Georgetown Law, told Reuters.

Gostin questioned whether Chinese authorities would accept experienced personnel from CDC - thereby setting aside "political and trade differences".

"It appears that China has not accepted the US offer of on the ground CDC experts, which is unfortunate. CDC has among the most experienced first responders," he added.

Gostin voiced doubts that China would allow WHO experts to verify independently crucial information about the epidemic's trajectory.

"Will they have complete access to epidemiologic, virologic real time data? Will they have the freedom to go into homes and communities...? Will they be full partners in surveillance and public health response?," he said.

Xi said on Tuesday that China's prevention and control work on the new coronavirus is having positive results, and the country will win the battle against the virus, state media reported.

WHO officials have said that Chinese authorities have been open and cooperative, sharing data throughout the outbreak.

Top News

china / WHO / Coronavirus

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Nearly 58% hike in bulk power price on cards
    Nearly 58% hike in bulk power price on cards
  • Illustration: TBS
    Let taka slide
  • Inflation jumps to 6.29% in April
    Inflation jumps to 6.29% in April

MOST VIEWED

  • Design artists work on their computer terminals at the Start-up Village in Kinfra High Tech Park in the southern Indian city of Kochi October 13, 2012. REUTERS/Sivaram V/Files
    Zombie unicorns: Indian startups go from feast to famine
  • White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan delivers remarks during a press briefing inside the White House in Washington, US, February 4, 2021. REUTERS/Tom Brenner/File Photo
    Biden adviser Sullivan and China's Yang discuss regional security
  • File photo
    Dollar gains, stocks retreat as inflation jitters return
  • US President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex, in Washington, US, March 18, 2022. REUTERS/Al Drago/File photo
    Biden: US to work with Finland, Sweden to stay vigilant against any threats to shared security
  • Scorched earth.Photographer: T. Narayan/Bloomberg
    The global safety net against hunger is frailer than you think
  • A view of the city skyline in Shanghai, China February 24, 2022. Picture taken February 24, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
    China, US lead rise in global debt to record high $305 trillion - IIF

Related News

  • Biden adviser Sullivan and China's Yang discuss regional security
  • China, US lead rise in global debt to record high $305 trillion - IIF
  • China in talks with automakers on EV subsidy extension -sources
  • China Junshi's potential Covid drug shows promise in small trial
  • Indonesia to drop outdoor mask mandate as Covid-19 infections drop

Features

‘The geopolitical landscape is undergoing profound change, Dhaka needs to craft proactive strategies’

‘The geopolitical landscape is undergoing profound change, Dhaka needs to craft proactive strategies’

21h | Interviews
Graphics: TBS

Facebook and Bangladeshi politicians: A new tide in mass political communication?

22h | Panorama
Despite Bangladesh having about 24,000 km of waterways, only a few hundred kilometres are covered by commercial launch services. Photo: Saad Abdullah

Utilising waterways: When common home-goers show the way

1d | Panorama
Illustration: TBS

How Putin revived Nato

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Cannes Film Festival 2022 resumes after 2 years

Cannes Film Festival 2022 resumes after 2 years

11h | Videos
Pension is coming for all

Pension is coming for all

11h | Videos
Bakery business in crisis for increased raw material prices

Bakery business in crisis for increased raw material prices

12h | Videos
Foods that have the most protein

Foods that have the most protein

12h | Videos

Most Read

1
Representative Photo: Pixabay.
Bangladesh

Microplastics found in 5 local sugar brands

2
Mushfiq Mobarak. Photo: Noor-A-Alam
Panorama

Meet the Yale professor who anchors his research in Bangladesh and scales up interventions globally

3
The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter
Industry

The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter

4
How Bangladesh can achieve edible oil self-sufficiency with local alternatives
Bazaar

How Bangladesh can achieve edible oil self-sufficiency with local alternatives

5
Govt tightens belt to relieve reserve
Economy

Govt tightens belt to relieve reserve

6
PK Halder: How a scamster rose from humble beginnings to a Tk11,000cr empire
Crime

PK Halder: How a scamster rose from humble beginnings to a Tk11,000cr empire

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab