Here are 10 key moments in the World Health Organization’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, following the publication Wednesday of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response’s report:The WHO office in China picks up a press release referring to cases of “viral pneumonia” on the website of the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission on December 31, 2019.
“It is now very clear from the latest information that there is at least some human-to-human transmission,” its Western Pacific branch writes on Twitter following a field mission to Wuhan. No deaths have yet been confirmed outside China, but there were 82 confirmed cases in 18 other countries.WHO had earlier called it “2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease” while China used the name “novel coronavirus pneumonia”.WHO describes Covid-19 as a pandemic on March 11 with more than 100 countries reporting cases.
More than two months later, the WHO says children aged 12 and over should follow the same mask guidelines as adults.WHO points to “emerging evidence” that the virus might spread by air further than previously thought on July 7.The WHO gives emergency use listing to the first vaccine, from Pfizer-BioNTech, on December 31.