The WHO said yesterday that it was examining its response to the swine flu outbreak in Mexico following accusations that the UN agency reacted too slowly.
Spokesman Thomas Abrahams said WHO headquarters was informed by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) about the emergence of a new flu virus early on April 24.
“There are cases of influenza all the time, but once we knew that this illness was cause by a new influenza virus ... we moved into operation within a matter of hours,” he told journalists.
“One of the things we are doing internally is documenting everything we have done, when we did it and how we have done it,” Abrahams said.
Media reports said there was a delay of eight days in the WHO's response to swine flu, now termed Influenza A (H1NI) by the WHO.
Mexican health officials notified the WHO's Washington-based regional branch, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), on April 16 of a possibly brewing epidemic, according to the Washington Post's Web site.
A US biosurveillance firm, Veratect, said on its Web site that its tracking reports of atypical pneumonia and respiratory disease in Mexico early last month were made available to the WHO.
Abrahams said: “On Friday [April] 24, I think we were informed early in the morning. Immediately after that our strategic operations center went into action.”
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan (陳馮富珍), who was on an official trip to Washington, met US and Mexican officials and went to PAHO, then flew back to Geneva the next day.
“By Saturday evening she was making a public statement here saying we had a potential pandemic virus. I think this is a pretty rapid response,” Abrahams said.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
The Philippines yesterday criticized a “high-risk” maneuver by a Chinese vessel near the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in a rare incident involving warships from the two navies. The Scarborough Shoal — a triangular chain of reefs and rocks in the contested South China Sea — has been a flash point between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012. Taiwan also claims the shoal. Monday’s encounter took place approximately 11.8 nautical miles (22km) southeast” of the Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine military said, during ongoing US-Philippine military exercises that Beijing has criticized as destabilizing. “The Chinese frigate BN 554 was
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
RSS