Coronavirus: WHO to blame and lessons learned

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gestures during a daily press briefing on COVID-19 coronavirus at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, March 6, 2020. AFP

By Hakim Djaballah

Since December 2019, the world has been at the edge of darkness. Rumors from China speak of a mysterious disease the world had never seen before; medical doctors began to describe it as a pneumonia-like disease with unknown origins.

Soon enough, the rumors are found to be true and the mysterious disease is unraveled ― the world is faced with yet another outbreak of a new coronavirus causing the same symptoms as the SARS-CoV of 2002, coincidently also from China.

The Chinese authorities through the voice of the WHO director general convinced the world that the situation was under control, praised itself for unprecedented efforts to combat the new virus, and did not raise the alarm when it mattered most.

Ironically few weeks later, the same director general tells the world that it is not a drill and calls on all nations to pull out all the stops to fight coronavirus. He goes on through Twitter to reassure us that the virus is not airborne, and without any supporting data. WHO was made aware of this outbreak in December 2019, but WHO and its director general did not act responsibly and warn the rest of humanity.

Today, the same director declares the situation is a pandemic due to the alarming levels of the spread, severity, and inaction. For one second, I would have believed his rhetoric but, alas, it was the WHO and its general director who caused most of the spread because of their alignment with China and being on cue for the communist party's message. If only they had warned the world few months earlier.

A weak and indecisive leadership at the heart of the most critical international health organization can only be summed up as a ticking bomb, and the world is experiencing today the consequences of its implosion. The world could have been better prepared and would have taken utmost measures to keep the coronavirus in China, if only informed on time. The world must act now and demand the resignation of Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and his entire team.

The first victims of the WHO failures are the resilient people of South Korea. Their government must have accepted the combined China/WHO reassurances at face value, and failed to close their borders; their failure led to an unnecessary outbreak on Korean soil.

What are the lessons learnt so far from South Korea?

Border closures

Governments must treat this outbreak as a threat to their national security and to the stability of their respective countries; they will be faced with an enemy they do not see nor hear. Governments must close their borders and quarantine all travelers coming into their country. Closing the borders would reduce the coronavirus spread, eliminate any new fertile ground fueling its evolution, and potentially sparking new disparate outbreaks.

The role of the World Health Organization

We are done listening to the WHO narrative; with all its reported around the clock work and the many productive meetings with foreign officials, the virus kept spreading and killing innocent people worldwide. It is now deemed a compromised organization. Its narrative no longer matters.

Transparency and data sharing

No individual government can fight this virus alone, even the U.S. Unlike our experience thus far with China, governments must collaborate, share data, and help the less fortunate countries with much-needed test kits, medication, and medical devices. This crisis will test the goodwill and the healthcare systems of many countries as we begin to see its effects on the Italian healthcare system.

Awareness campaigns

We are in the age of social media, and governments must use all available broadcasting means to convey clear and objective messages regarding the outbreak. Avoid mixed messages and confusion on what is critical to do versus what is important. Human nature will always prevail.

The role of the media

Media outlets must be held accountable for their misguidance, political agendas, and side propaganda. It has been fascinating to see so many “experts”, who have no basic scientific knowledge or basic comprehension of what a virus outbreak is and what it entails, are on TV discussing the crisis. They are causing more confusion to the average citizen, with so much misinformation on this unfolding crisis.

These same “experts” seem to have similar talking points on comparing the SARS-CoV2 to the seasonal influenza, and their case fatality rates (CFRs). It is like comparing apples to bananas.

Politics, religion, stigmatization, and racism aside

A united and focused country would certainly win the coronavirus challenge. Yes, there will be many obstacles on the way but remember you are all in the same burning house, and the sooner you put out the fire, the safer everyone will be. Politicizing the crisis will only cause more damage, division, and could easily break into civil disobedience.

The timing of this crisis could not have been better with the forthcoming elections in many countries, and providing a solemn campaign slogan using the coronavirus to attack and blame the opposition; leading to more confusion.

From South Korea's efforts, the Shincheonji Church may have saved the whole country; it forced the government's hand to go off script to screen and test as many people as possible. The same church demonstrated for the first time, and no thanks to China and the experts at WHO, the severity of this coronavirus spread ― from one infected follower to more than 6,000 infected people in a two week time frame.

This cryptic coronavirus can evolve and seem to become more infectious as it moves from one viral generation to the next. The Shincheonji Church experiment is by far the most critical lesson we have learned and does provide the ultimate guidelines for all the other countries to follow: hygiene, hygiene practices, and good hygiene protocols.

If you fail to close the borders, treat the crisis as an oil spill

You must first contain the main spill to reduce spread, but most importantly search for those who were contaminated and isolate them from the public. Bear in mind that if you stigmatize them, for sure they will go underground or provide false information on their most recent travel history.

Concluding remarks

With all the knowledge and advances made in the medical field today, the human body remains vulnerable to viruses. Religion, traditions, and customs play a critical role in triggering and at the same time rescuing us from a crisis.

Pharmaceutical and biotech companies alike have made many pledges and promises, but there is no vaccine in sight; and the world should not hold its breath for one coming to the rescue soon. It has been almost two decades since the SARS outbreak, plenty of time to develop and test a vaccine; yet, as we are learning, no vaccine exists today.

Today, we do have one approved drug for human use and an experimental drug undergoing clinical trials that could be used to curb the spread of the virus. The first drug is a chloroquine derivative and sold under the brand name “plaquenil” and the second is the experimental drug “remdesivir” being developed by U.S. based company Gilead.

The world has been challenged three times in two decades by the same coronavirus family; this time, greed, political survival, and protectionism trumped common sense and the ill fate of humanity. We do have drugs that could be used today but for some they do not constitute a revenue stream worth the effort.

Because plaquenil is a generic drug and one of the cheapest drugs in the world; and remdesivir, although originally developed by an academic lab receiving U.S. federal funds, it was licensed to Gilead for development. I was impressed by the Gilead leadership to make this drug available to patients for compassionate use; it requires governments to act and coordinate with Gilead.

As I am writing this column, I am more worried about the fate of Europe and the Middle East, where we may witness more deaths and a potential breaking point for war due to SARS-CoV2. China has unleashed this curse and as the world unites and prays, the U.S. remains the only world power that could help ease the tensions.