Bengaluru, (Aryavarth). The World Health Organization is forming tough rules to contain the rapidly spreading coronavirus, labeling the pandemic as a “global health emergency” and even creating a 23-page “strategic preparedness and response plan”. But is it not late for the WHO to make such decisions?The preparations being made now, the steps being taken cannot compensate for the inefficiency with which response to coronavirus has been taken from the beginning.
Despite being the directing and coordinating authority on international health within the United Nations System and accountable to keeping the world safe and serving the vulnerable globally the world has seen how WHO has supported China while it was adhering to the wrong methods of governance involving coronavirus. Whole world deserves a better authoritarian rather than corrupt bureaucrats who succumb when the world is in distress. Practically overnight, the Chinese city of Wuhan transformed from confusions to ground zero of an international effort to contain coronavirus.As a first responder, it relied on the Chinese government to acknowledge the problem and devise a comprehensive response that would keep the virus from leaving central China. They took no such steps instead resorted to cover-up and jail brave doctors and patients, who tried to ring the alarm about the deadly disease.One of the first physicians to warn the world about coronavirus was the late Chinese ophthalmologist Li Wenliang, who in December told his medical colleagues about cases that seemed suspicious of the 2002 SARS outbreak. Instead of paying heed to the doctor’s warning, the Chinese government dismissed Wenliang and asked him to surrender in front of the secret police and forced to accept and renounce their “rumor”.The cover-up extended to the local level, where,the authorities were reported about the spread but issued orders to suppress.In fact, they formulated a cover-up that allowed to reduce the severity of the outbreak according to medical professionals.
What made WHO so incautious?
The WHO could have tried to hold China accountable for its reckless response, but instead, the organization’s director general, Drs. Tedros Adnom Ghebreyus, decided to stay aloof without pondering over the matter. Tedros praised Chinese President Xi Jinping for his “political commitment” and “political leadership” on his tactical handling of coronavirus cases.
As the WHO overprotected China, Xi waited two weeks for the WHO to engage an international advance team to investigate the outbreak. Journalists all over the world asked tough questions as to why WHO took a back seat and not taken measures at the initial level. But the Director General of the WHO praised China saying extraordinary measures have been taken to prevent this fatal outbreak despite the severe social and economic impact on China. The accolades did not sustain for long as an impossible situation of worsening virus spread was created and the Chinese policies crumbled under its own weight. Xi refused to ease a citywide quarantine of Wuhan, prompting a visitor to return and allow healthy visitors to leave the city of Wuhan. By all accounts, the week-old quarantine of 11 million Chinese citizens has been a failure, exposing countless healthy residents and visitors to a disease that has taken millions of lives worldwide.The WHO was criticized all-round for its inability to deal with the 2014 Ebola outbreak, waiting for more than five months to declare the spread of the disease a “public health emergency”. WHO’s Global Alert and Response Network sent a team of experts to coordinate the response to the Ebola outbreak, but withdrew quickly even as the virus outbreak continued.Clearly, the WHO has not learned the lesson that fatal and half-baked measures did no good in combating deadly diseases.Only a dedicated and unbiased WHO will stop praising strong people otherwise it will actually become harder to stop the spread of coronavirus.
What does WHO says about its values
The WHO that states that their values are deeply rooted to their DNA, functions as the directing and coordinating authority on international health within the UN system, adheres to UN values of integrity, professionalism and respect for diversity.The values of WHO’s workforce further reflect the principles of human rights, universality and equity enshrined in the WHO’s constitution, as well as the ethical standards of the organization.These values are inspired by the WHO’s vision of a world in which all people achieve the highest possible level of health, and their mission to promote health is to protect the world and serve the vulnerable.As per their formal declaration,They are individually and collectively committed to putting these values into practice.
They Assure to serve the public health at all times.They put people’s health interests first,Their work and recommendations are free,Our decisions are fair, transparent and punctual,Professionals committed to excellence in health,they maintain the highest standards of professionalism across all roles and expertise, they are guided by the best available science, evidence and technical expertise, they constantly develop ourselves and innovate to respond to the changing world.As an entity of integrity,They literally practice the advice they give to the world, they connect with everyone with honesty and good faith and hold ourselves and others responsible for words and actions.They connect with partners to strengthen influence at the country level, recognize and harness the power of diversity to achieve more together and communicate openly with everyone and learn from each other. After all these principles and values that they claim to adhere to, why do complaints of biasness for a particular country emerge?
Reason of WHO being reluctant about the virus spread
The Coronavirus originated from an illegal wildlife market in Wuhan city of China, Govt officials and doctors got an idea about the massiveness and fatality of the Virus, but they were reluctant to contain it and stop spreading it across the globe. China started gauging the adversity when people are canceling a tour of China due to the virus. A negative image was being created around China. Due to fear of this virus, demand for face masks had also increased.Experts were worried that there is a possibility of it spreading from one person to another outside China. Coronavirus cases were also also reported in the USA and Italy. WHO being confidantes of China were supporting them till Air France, American Airlines and British Airways have discontinued their flights from China, China under the protection of WHO was trying to prevent themselves from suffering a bigger economic loss. Multinational companies in China were shutting down business due to the coronavirus. Alphabet Inc. Google and Sweden IKEA have closed their operations in China. Students from different parts of the world were stranded in Wuhan. The retail market was totally shattered.
What does the Indian Media say about WHO – China mutual benefit
The Indian government or the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not blamed China for the coronavirus, but a BJP ally has accused China and the WHO of getting together to make the situation worse.Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) has said that WHO should immediately name this virus as China virus. The SJM advises the BJP-led central government on economic issues.SJM national convenor Ashwini Mahajan told English-language news website ThePrint, “Questions are arising over the role and credibility of the World Health Organization. It first relied on China’s belief that the corona virus was not spreading from humans to humans.” But, now it has been proved that it is spreading due to human contact with each other. Mahajan also called for global investment in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) role in spreading the virus. He said that this virus is killing people on a large scale in countries that are BRI partners of China. These include countries like Iran and Italy.He said, “China has spread this virus in unethical ways and now the whole world is in danger.”
Many experts in India are also taking the role of WHO in the dock. An influential Strategic Affairs Expert Sameer Saran wrote in a comment that the WHO responded to the crisis in a sluggish manner. Saran estimates that China is increasing its dominance over international organizations such as WHO. Senior Journalist and Commentator Shekhar Gupta has said on his YouTube channel that WHO, which was continuously distributing certificates of good behavior in China, is now lecturing the whole world against the measures of Quarantine and thus making the situation worse.
Since the outbreak of the virus, many commentators and media outlets in India have alleged that China is now trying to protect itself by lying.Leading Strategic Affairs Expert Brahma Chellani wrote in the English news magazine Open that China is now aggressively trying to rebrand itself as a global leader all over the world. Chellani says, “China’s public diplomacy involves the use of Twitter and other social media platforms. Through them, it intends to influence the narrator all over the world by issuing vague and false information.”The report by the English news channel Wayon says that China is using propaganda machinery to actively respond to the criticisms against it due to the Coronavirus..The report states that China’s propaganda machinery contains a large number of fake social media accounts that spread content supporting China throughout the world.
According to the report, a part of this machinery is connected to the program that China started in 2016. Under this, China gives foreign journalists 10 months of training. Many foreign journalists have gone to China in the past few years under this program.
Finally WHO came clean, but people have to pay the price
The rapid spread of coronavirus infection can be gauged from the fact that just 67 days after the first case came out, cases of Covid-19 increased to one lakh. In 11 days, one more lakh was increased. The next one lakh cases increased in just four days.World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Gabriess said that it is still possible that we can change the graph of these growing figures.He has urged countries around the world to adopt a strategy of strict testing and contact-tracing.At the launch of the “Kick Out CoronaVirus” campaign with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, he told reporters, “The most important thing is what we are doing. You cannot win any football match without a defense. Defend In addition to doing this, you also have to attack. “Dr. Tedrose said “People are being asked repeatedly to stay in their homes. Also, stay away from all kinds of events. Follow social distancing to prevent the virus from spreading, but These are only protective methods. We cannot win by doing so. “”To win we need to attack the virus. That too with vigorous and complete strategy. Every suspect should be investigated, people who have confirmed the infection are kept in isolation and given full care and positive Whatever has come in contact with the found people should be quarantined. “Dr. Tedrose has raised concerns about reports of health workers being infected around the world and said that this is a warning.
He said that it is a matter of concern that if the health workers start getting infected, then in the coming time people will have to struggle with the lack of trained doctors.”Health workers can do their work well only when they are safe while doing their work. Even if we are doing everything in the right direction, if we do not prioritize the safety of the health workers then people will die and that also due to shortage of health workers. “He said that the World Health Organization is working with its partners to rationalize the use of protective equipment, prioritize it and address its global shortage.But he also said that the measures taken to reduce the spread of the virus are lacking in the necessary protective gear and could have adverse consequences.
The head of the World Health Organization said that to combat this virus, political commitment and coordination is needed at the global level. He said that he will talk to the leaders of the G20 countries to boost production of protective equipment, end export restrictions and ensure delivery on need basis.Responding to WHO British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a number of restrictions to prevent the corona virus infection. Britons have been asked to stay in their homes. The exemption has been given to go out for the purchase of essential goods, medical needs and any compulsory workShops of non-essential products have been asked to be closed. With this, no more than two people can live together in public places. If people do not follow the rules, then the police will force them to do so. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a television address from Downing Street that those who do not follow the restrictions will be fined. The Prime Minister has ordered the library, playgrounds, outdoor gyms and shrines closed.Parks will be open for exercise but people will not be able to gather in the group. The government has also banned social events. Weddings have also been stopped. Boris Johnson said that restrictions would be reviewed after three weeks and the decision would be based on the situation.
China to be sued
On an international level, States could sue the People’s Republic of China at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and / or other international forums for violations. From the information presently available as to Chinese response from the time of the novel coronavirus being detected in Wuhan to the actual spread of it globally, it appears that a prima-facie case has been made out for China to be held liable for its alleged inactions in containing the spread of the virus. States could argue that China gave precedence to economic gains rather than do things on a war footing, which could have possibly helped contain the virus to its shores alone, and not become a pandemic that we are witnessing today.In India, the principle of sovereign immunity dictates jurisdiction, if any, of Indian courts over foreign sovereigns (China in this case). An exception to this rule, however, is found in section 86 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. This section lays down that the only way a foreign state may be sued in an Indian court is by first procuring written consent of the Central Government certified in writing by a Secretary to the Government, and laid down conditions to this effect will have to be satisfied. One of the conditions laid down is waiver of immunity, and Indian courts have in the past held that waiver in this regard may be construed to be implied if there is failure to appear and claim such immunity – although this was in cases involving enterprises owned by foreign states, and not suing the foreign state itself.