We’re covering the W.H.O.’s concessions to China in the coronavirus inquiry, what to make of rumors of a coup in Thailand and Nepal’s struggle to attract visitors.
By Melina Delkic
An elderly man collapsed and died of unknown causes on a street near a hospital in Wuhan, China, on Jan. 30, during the first months of the epidemic. Hector Retamal/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
How the W.H.O. bowed to China
On a weekend in February, when the world still hoped the virus could be contained, a World Health Organization team arrived in Beijing to investigate a critical question: How did the coronavirus jump from animals to humans?
But what the team members did not know was that they would not be allowed to investigate the source at all. Against the advice of their emergency committee, W.H.O. leadership had quietly negotiated terms that sidelined their own experts. They would not question China’s initial response or even visit the live-animal market where the outbreak began.
Nine months and more than 1.1 million deaths later, there is still no transparent, independent investigation. China has impeded the effort, while W.H.O. leaders, if privately frustrated, have largely ceded control.
Details: Internal documents obtained by The Times and interviews with more than 50 public health officials, scientists and diplomats provide an inside look at the W.H.O.’s dealings with Beijing. China extracted concessions that helped it delay important research and avoid a potentially embarrassing review of the government’s early response to the outbreak.
Quotable: “Unfortunately, this has become a political investigation,” said Wang Linfa, an Australian virologist in Singapore. “Whatever they do is symbolic.”
Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.
In other developments:
■ Chancellor Angela Merkel likened the pandemic to challenges Germany faced after World War II. Residents are entering “lockdown light” for a month, in hopes of celebrating the holidays with their families.
■ After Australia reported its first 24-hour period of no new cases in nearly five months, one new case was discovered in the state of New South Wales.
■ Prince William contracted Covid-19 in England in April but kept his diagnosis a secret for fear of alarming the public, according to British media.
The New York Times
Me: The Chinese did it and now they are covering it up, because they did not let W.H.O Investigate it in China
” If you have nothing to hide – why it?