This archive report was first published on 4 July 2020.
On July 4, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) published an updated account of the early stages of the Covid-19 crisis, revealing that it was alerted by its own office in China, not by China itself, to the first pneumonia cases in Wuhan.
The WHO's initial timeline, published on April 9, 2020, had stated that the Wuhan municipal health commission in the province of Hubei reported cases of pneumonia on December 31, but did not specify who had notified the UN health agency.
However, a new chronology published by the WHO this week offers a more detailed version of events, indicating that it was the WHO office in China that notified its regional point of contact of a case of 'viral pneumonia' on December 31, after finding a declaration for the media on a Wuhan health commission website.
The WHO's epidemic information service also picked up a news report transmitted by the international epidemiological surveillance network ProMed about the same group of cases of pneumonia from unknown causes in Wuhan on the same day.
WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan stated that countries have 24-48 hours to officially verify an event and provide the agency with additional information about the nature or cause of an event.
US President Donald Trump has announced that his country, the main financial contributor to WHO, will cut its bridges with the institution, which he accuses of being too close to China and of having poorly managed the pandemic.
