One year after the WHO called the coronavirus "pandemic", the need to adapt the international alert system
- The highest level of prediction WHO could make under international standards was on 30 January, declaring the PHEIC "a public health emergency of international concern", but until the moment the WHO used the word "pandemic" many countries did not understand the importance of the problem. Many experts ask to change the alert system.
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization said the coronavirus could be considered a pandemic. Adhanom CEO Tedros Adhanom spoke at a regular press conference on COVID-19 during the previous two weeks, where the number of cases outside China was multiplied by 13 and the number of countries affected tripled. At that time there were 118,000 infections in 114 countries, 4,300 people lost their lives and other hospitals hoping to recover. Italy was the second most positive country and the Spanish State had over 2,000 positive.
That afternoon, the words of the head of the WHO were very clear: "We are very concerned about both the troubling levels of expansion and anguish and the degree of inaction." Therefore, the WHO concluded that COVID-19 was a "pandemic", the first that caused the coronavirus in history. Shortly thereafter, it was confirmed that Europe had become its epicenter.
In a preliminary report, published in January, the panel of independent experts analysing the international COVID-19 response questions whether the WHO had previously used the term "pandemic" to benefit the evolution of the situation. "This term is not used or defined in the International Health Regulations, but its use serves to highlight the severity of a health problem. The WHO did not use this term until March 11."
Proposals for changing alert system
For the international declaration of emergency, WHO requires three criteria: that it be an extraordinary event, that it becomes a risk to the public health of other countries through international expansion and that a coordinated international response is required.
The diario.es points out that many experts are proposing to strengthen the criteria for declaring a public health emergency, changing the notification and alert systems, as well as creating a permanent, transparent and politically protected emergency commission. The debate may be intensified in view of the World Health Conference in May.
The clear opinion of the group of independent experts analysing the response to COVID-19 is found in the preliminary report: "The world was not prepared for a pandemic and has to do better." They believe that the global pandemic alert system is not performing its role. "The basic components of the system are slow, annoying and non-determining," he added. As reported to the team of experts, most alerts reach the WHO via news or social media and, he adds, knows that platforms have been created to gather information on epidemics from non-traditional sources or from open access.
