The World Health Organisation has praised China for handlingthe coronavirus pandemic and said that the countries need to learn from Wuhanon how the epicentre of the virus was bringing the society back to normal, aday after US President Donald Trump likened the global health body to a publicrelations agency for Beijing.
Trump on Thursday said the WHO should be “ashamed”of itself, as he compared the UN’s health organ to a public relations agencyfor China amidst the coronavirus pandemic after it originated in the centralChinese city of Wuhan.
The Trump administration has launched a probe into the roleof the WHO on coronavirus, and has temporarily suspended the US’ financialassistance to it.
Many countries, including Germany, Britain and Australia,are blaming China for the spread of coronavirus, that has killed over 2,35,000people globally, including 64,000 Americans, and has infected 3.3 million.
Noting that there are zero COVID-19 cases in Wuhan, Mariavan Kerkhove, the technical lead for the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme ata virtual press briefing in Geneva, said, “that’s very very welcome newsto hear that there are no more severe cases, no more patients in Wuhan.”
“So congratulations on this achievement,”state-run Xinhua news agency quoted her as saying on Saturday.
“The world has learned from China and we need tocontinue to learn from Wuhan on how they are lifting those measures, how theyare bringing society back to normal, or a new normal, in terms of how we’regoing to live with this virus going forward,” she said.
Health officials in Wuhan, where the coronavirus emerged inDecember last year, said all COVID-19 cases were cleared from hospitals onSunday.
The Hubei province and its capital Wuhan have not reportedcoronavirus cases for 28 consecutive days since April 4, the local healthcommission said on Saturday.
The central province also lowered its emergency level fromhighest to next level on Saturday.
The lowering of the emergency level shows a majorbreakthrough in Hubei’s prevention and control against COVID-19, Vice-Governorof Hubei Yang Yunyan told the media on Friday.
The province, however, reported 647 asymptomatic cases,which are under medical observation. Hubei has so far reported 68,128 confirmedCOVID-19 cases in total, including 50,333 in Wuhan.
Amid criticism of under reporting of cases, Wuhan on April17 revised its death toll by 50 per cent, taking the number of fatalities to3,869.
The death toll in China stood at 4,633 as of Thursday, with82,874 overall confirmed cases.
As one of the China-WHO joint experts, who visited China inFebruary for a field study, van Kerkhove said, “China has worked very hardto bring the outbreak under control.”
“I was there for two weeks and working directly withministry officials, and officials from all different sectors, from hospitals,through communities, to really see what was put in place to bring those numbersdown,” she said.
Van Kerkhove said she appreciated the “tirelessefforts” of the people in Wuhan — “not just the healthcare workersbut the individuals who stayed in their homes, who adhered to the public healthmeasures.”
“We take our hats off to you, and we thank you for yourcommitment and your service, and for sharing with us in the world what you’vebeen able to do,” she said.
She also asked people in Wuhan to “remainvigilant,” in case new cases appear.