According to the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, such concern is bigoted, not rational — which makes no sense at all, of course.
Despite the fact that more than 20,700 people have been infected thus far, with 427 (as of this writing) having been killed by the novel virus, Tedros believes that a) the Chinese government is handling things well; and b) any criticism of the way China’s handling the outbreak, including travel bans and other restrictions, is bad.
John Mackenzie, emeritus professor at Curtin University, noted that it defies all logic that there was no increase in new cases at the same time that Chinese officials were holding local political meetings in January.
“There must have been more cases happening that we weren’t being told about. I think they tried to keep the figures quiet for a while because of some major meeting they had in Wuhan but I think there was a period of very poor reporting, or very poor communication,” he said, calling Beijing’s response “reprehensible.”
“I think [China] were very quick to let WHO know?.?.?.?about it being a novel disease, they were very quick in being able to isolate the virus and share the genome sequence but I think on some of the more government public health type issues, they have been rather recalcitrant,” he added.
But for Tedros, it was more appropriate to blame the rest of the world for causing “fear and stigma” by limiting trade and travel to China because of the outbreak which, obviously, is still not contained. Meanwhile, as Zero Hedge reports, his criticism comes as China is itself blocking travel to Macau and implementing martial law — or something very close to it — nationwide.
No one really knows how dangerous this virus really is
The website’s Tyler Durden noted:
Having once again earlier denied that the novel coronavirus is a 'pandemic', saying instead that it's an epidemic with "multiple foci," and with people dropping down dead on the streets in China (and being forced into ambulances), WHO Director-General Tedros reiterated his previous stunning praise for China's "forceful measures" to halt the spread of the virus.
Durden said what he is actually hearing from Tedros is something that Peak Prosperity’s Chris Martenson suggested: That the WHO appears to be putting money over people’s lives.
Specifically, the WHO also announced that despite the fact that the virus has a long incubation period and is highly disruptive, that shouldn’t disrupt or limit “global trade and travel.”
What kind of sense does that make for the World Health Organization to make that kind of statement?
Tedros' remarkable statement comes just ahead of a report by CNBC quoting researchers who claim that the coronavirus may actually be much more contagious than first believed, including one from the WHO.
“The rapid acceleration of cases is of concern,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s emergencies program, told a news conference last week before the agency declared coronavirus a global emergency.
CNBC reports:
Chinese scientists worry the respiratory illness, which world health officials say likely came from a fish market, has mutated to adapt to its new human hosts far more quickly than SARS. Data on the virus is changing by the day, and some infectious disease specialists say it will take weeks before they can see just how contagious it is.
SARS was the last coronavirus-type of pandemic to originate in China.
What is clear is that no one really knows just how dangerous and deadly this virus is at the moment. So chastising the leaders of countries who have elected to protect their citizens with Chinese trade and travel restrictions seems suspicious and dumb.
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