The World Health Organization (WHO) is a leading organisation involved in the global coordination for mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic within the broader United Nations response to the pandemic.
On 5 January 2020, the WHO notified the world about a "pneumonia of unknown cause" in China and subsequently began investigating the disease. On 20 January, the WHO confirmed human-to-human transmission of the disease. On 30 January, the WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and warned all countries. On 11 March, the WHO said the outbreak constituted a pandemic. By 5 October of the same year, the WHO estimated that a tenth of the world's population had been infected with the novel virus.
The WHO has spearheaded several initiatives, such as the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, to raise money for the pandemic response, the UN COVID-19 Supply Chain Task Force, and the solidarity trial for investigating potential treatment options for the disease. The COVAX program, co-led by the WHO, Gavi, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), aims to accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines and to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world.
The WHO's handling of the initial outbreak required a "diplomatic balancing act" between member states, in particular between the United States and China. On 27 August 2020, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that an independent expert committee would be established to examine various aspects of the international treaty that governs preparedness and response to health emergencies. A WHO-led international mission arrived in China in January 2021 to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, and released preliminary findings the following month.
Background The World Health Organization has provided state-endorsed guidance and has set norms and standards on outbreak preparedness and responses. This was by its role of providing guidance and assisting with coordination in controlling the international spread of diseases. However, the WHO does not have the power to legally enforce its recommendations.
Timeline
December 2019 On 30 December 2019, the WHO obtained a Chinese report about seven or more cases of atypical pneumonia. On 31 December 2019, authorities in China reported a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause. Taiwan's CDC emailed the WHO a few hours later, restating the earlier Chinese report and requesting more information.
January 2020 On 1 January 2020, the WHO set up the Incident Management Support Team for dealing with the disease outbreak on an emergency basis. On 5 January 2020, the WHO notified all member states about the new outbreak of an unknown pneumonia virus in the Hubei province of China. On 10 January, the WHO issued a comprehensive package of guidance to countries on how to test for potential cases. By this date, the WHO warned of the risk of human-to-human transmission. On 12 January, Chinese scientists shared the genetic sequence of the new virus, and the WHO asked a German team to design a test. On 13 January, the WHO confirmed the first case of the disease outside of China, in Thailand. On 14 January, Maria Van Kerkhove, an American infectious disease epidemiologist of the WHO, told in a press briefing that "it is possible that there is limited human-to-human transmission, potentially among families, but it is very clear right now that we have no sustained human-to-human transmission" WHO recommended countries to take precautions due to the precedent of human-to-human transmission set during earlier SARS and MERS outbreaks. On the same day, the WHO's Twitter account stated that "preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission". On 20 January, the WHO tweeted that it was "now very clear from the latest information that there is at least some human-to-human transmission" that has occurred, given that healthcare workers had been infected. On 22 January, the WHO issued a statement disclosing that the data "suggests that human-to-human transmission is taking place in Wuhan", and called for more investigation. On 22 January, an emergency committee was convened to assess whether the outbreak constituted a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). The committee could not reach a consensus. On 27 January, the WHO assessed the risk of the outbreak to be "high at the global level". On 30 January, the emergency committee reconvened and advised that the outbreak constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. WHO warned that "all countries should be prepared for containment".
February 2020 On 3 February, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there was no need to "unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade" in trying to control COVID-19. He said, "We call on all countries to implement decisions that are evidence-based and consistent." At the time, China was "facing increasing international isolation due to restrictions on flights to and from the country, and bans on travellers from China". WHO's long-standing policy was that travel restrictions are generally ineffective and can be counter-productive. On 12 February, a Research and Innovation Forum was convened by the WHO, which included researchers and funders, to fund priority research for stopping the outbreak and preventing future outbreaks. From 16 to 24 February, the WHO–China Joint Mission travelled to China and created a report about the evolution of the outbreak in China.
March 2020 On 2 March, WHO Director-General Tedros announced that containment of the virus must still be the international top priority. On 3 March, the WHO released a Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan to help protect countries with weaker health systems. The WHO Director-General stated that the latest global death rate of the new coronavirus outbreak, 3.4%, was far higher than the seasonal flu which has a rate of less than 1%. The WHO also announced a severe shortage of personal protective equipment due to panic buying and hoarding, which was endangering medical workers. On 6 March, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the agency was working with the World Economic Forum to engage private companies globally in meeting the demand for medical products. On 7 March, the WHO stated that the global number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus disease, COVID-19, had surpassed 100,000, calling it a "sombre moment". On 9 March, the WHO and ICAO published a reminder statement to caution against the breach of the 2005 International Health Regulations. On 11 March, the WHO confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 as a pandemic. The Director-General of the WHO called on governments to change their course by taking "urgent and aggressive action". On 12 March, the WHO stated that the COVID-19 pandemic could be controlled if countries took the pandemic seriously. This came after some countries did not take adequate measures to slow transmission, and also after the WHO had stated the outbreak had not reached the status of a pandemic. On 13 March, the WHO launched COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund to support their work in containing the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic. On 16 March, the WHO issued advice on 'Five Things You Should Know Now about the COVID-19 Pandemic' and on safeguarding mental health during the pandemic, while the WHO Director-General "blasted" the slow virus testing response and stressed, "Once again, our message is: test, test, test." On 18 March, the WHO launched the Solidarity Trial, an international clinical trial to find an effective treatment for coronavirus disease. On 19 March, the WHO Director-General reported that China had reported no new domestic cases and stated that the WHO was working to ensure the supply chain for protective equipment and tests. On 20 March, the Director-General announced the 'tragic milestone' of 200,000 reported cases of COVID-19. On 23 March, the World Health Organization (WHO) and international football's governing body, FIFA, launched a joint campaign, 'Pass the Message to Kick Out Coronavirus'. On 30 March, the World Health Organization (WHO) reiterates the recommendation of not wearing face masks unless they are sick with COVID-19 or caring for someone who is sick.
April 2020 On 1 April, the WHO reported that deaths from COVID-19 had more than doubled in the previous week and would soon reach 50,000 globally, with the global caseload heading towards one million. On 3 April, the WHO announced that it would work together with UNICEF on COVID-19 response through the Solidarity Response Fund. In a joint statement, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration, the UN human rights office (OHCHR), and the World Health Organization stressed that "refugees, migrants and displaced persons are at heightened risk of contracting the new coronavirus disease" as health systems threatened to be overwhelmed. By 7 April the WHO had accepted two diagnostic tests for procurement under the Emergency Use Listing procedure (EUL) for use during the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to increase access to quality-assured, accurate tests for the disease. On World Health Day, the WHO and UN Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the work of the world's medical professionals and urged greater support for nurses and other frontline workers, as well as concern over the lack of personal protective equipment and intimidation and threats. On 8 April, the WHO warned that the number of COVID-19 cases in Africa had now increased to over 10,000, with over 500 dead. Responding to criticism, the WHO Director-General warned against politicizing COVID-19 as unity is the "only option" to defeat the pandemic, emphasizing, "please quarantine politicizing COVID". He outlined five main reasons why countries need the WHO. UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged global support for the WHO, describing the UN health agency, which has led the multilateral response since the beginning, as "absolutely critical" in overcoming COVID-19. 9 April marked the 100th day since the WHO was notified of the first cases of 'pneumonia of unknown cause' in China. The Director General reported that the WHO would release an updated strategy for fighting the pandemic. WHO launched the UN COVID-19 Supply Chain Task Force to scale up the supply of life-saving products for COVID-19. On 10 April, the WHO Director-General laid out six factors for consideration when lifting lockdowns, including that transmission is controlled and sufficient public health and medical services are available. On 13 April, the Director-General of the WHO outlined the agency's latest advice, stressing a mix of social distancing, testing, contact tracing, and isolation. The WHO, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), and other health partners supporting the Measles & Rubella Initiative (M&RI) warned that over 117 million children in 37 countries risked missing out on a measles vaccine. On 14 April, The first of the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) and WHO "Solidarity Flights" carried urgently needed medical equipment to Africa, part of a UN-wide initiative. On 15 April, The Director-General of the WHO stated it was reviewing the impact of the United States withholding funding and upheld the importance of international solidarity in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic one day after the US announced that it was cutting funding, pending a review of how the WHO responded to the initial outbreak in China. The WHO warned of a potential "second wave" of COVID-19 infections in an update to its strategic advice to governments, as some European countries began to relax lockdown measures.