Covid-19 pandemic could have been prevented, says report

Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response’s report says world ignored warnings

The world had ignored warnings which resulted in the outbreak of Covid-19, and the international system could have prevented it from escalating into the devastating pandemic, an independent global panel concluded on Wednesday.

The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPPR) in its report said, “It is clear to the Panel that the world was not prepared and had ignored warnings which resulted in a massive failure: an outbreak of SARS-COV-2 became a devastating pandemic.”

After analysing the early response to the Covid-19 outbreak, the probe panel concluded that “the international system could have been different, and prevented it from escalating into the devastating pandemic it became.”

The panel concluded that the declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) did not lead to an urgent, coordinated, worldwide response. “It was not until the number of Covid-19 cases increased dramatically and Covid-19 had spread internationally that governments took serious action to prevent transmission,” the panel said.

It further said that countries that devalued science failed to build trust in their response and pursued inconsistent strategies that left them lagging behind the epidemic and with high infection and death rates. To avoid future pandemics, the panel called for the setting up of a high-level Global Health Threats Council led by Heads of State and Government.

UK officials review variant

The number of people infected with Covid-19 in England fell by almost half over the past month marking lowest Covid-19 cases since last year, according to new statistics released on Thursday. The Imperial College London led Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission (REACT-1) study comes as it emerged the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) was to meet on Thursday to discuss the Variant of Concern (VOC) first identified in India, which UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said was of “increasing concern” as it may be “considerably more transmissible” than the dominant variant first detected in the county of Kent last year. It is feared the June 21 date set in UK government’s complete lockdown easing roadmap may be impacted by the SAGE analysis.

‘Vaccines approved by US work against B1617 variant’

Covid-19 vaccines approved by the United States like Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson have effectiveness against the B1617 variant of the virus that is predominant in India, a top American health official said. The observation is based on latest data about the variant and the three major vaccines approved by the US, said Dr Francis Collins, Director of the National Institute of Science. “The data is coming in, and it looks very encouraging that the US-approved vaccines, the Pfizer, the Moderna, the J&J, do have effectiveness against this variant called B1617,” Collins told media. “It’s a little less effective in that case than some of the others, but it looks like it ought to be good enough to make Americans protected. And that’s really a good thing to hear,” he said.

6,27,977
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

15,99,49,065
Total no. of cases worldwide

33,22,439
Total no.  of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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