Town Hall
Date: Mar 21, 2020
By: Beth Baumann

According to Taiwan, the World Health Organization could have prevented the Wuhan coronavirus from becoming a pandemic had the organization listened to their early warnings. Taiwanese officials said WHO's failure to act early on has to do with its close ties to Chinese leadership, the Daily Caller reported. 

Taiwanese health officials alerted WHO about the Wuhan coronavirus' transmission between humans back in December but the organization failed to alert countries around the world.

One of Taiwan's chief complaints is centered around the International Health Regulations (IHR)'s reporting website, which was established so countries around the world could share data about pandemics. 

“While the IHR’s internal website provides a platform for all countries to share information on the epidemic and their response, none of the information shared by our country’s [Centers for Disease Control] is being put up there,” Taiwanese Vice President Chen Chien-Jen told the Financial Times. “The WHO could not obtain first-hand information to study and judge whether there was human-to-human transmission of COVID-10. This led it to announce human-to-human transmission with a delay, and an opportunity to raise the alert level both in China and the wider world was lost."    [FULL  STORY]