The World Health Organization warned the US and other countries about the risk of coronavirus human-to-human transmission in January, when the outbreak began in China, even without clear evidence provided by Chinese studies that this kind of transmission was possible.
The WHO on 10 January provided a comprehensive package of technical guidance and advice to countries on how to detect and prevent the disease, warning of human-to-human transmission, the Guardian reported, citing sources from top WHO officials. The organization confirmed issuing such guidance on their website, claiming that the package was shared "with WHO's regional emergency directors to share with WHO representatives in countries". However, the text of the guidelines was not made publicly available.
On 14 January Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove noted in a press briefing "there may have been limited human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus, mainly through family members, and that there was a risk of a possible wider outbreak". She also noted that human-to-human transmission would not be surprising given our experience with SARS, MERS and other respiratory pathogens.
On 22 January, the WHO posted on their website and said in press briefings that "human-to-human transmission is taking place in Wuhan".
"Data collected through detailed epidemiological investigation and through the deployment of the new test kit nationally suggests that human-to-human transmission is taking place in Wuhan. More analysis of the epidemiological data is needed to understand the full extent of human-to-human transmission. WHO stands ready to provide support to China to conduct further detailed analysis", the agency said in a statement.
On 30 January, the WHO announced that COVID-19 had become a global health emergency.
Trump's administration accusations
US President Donald Trump and some members of his administration have repeatedly blamed the organization of trying to conceal the true danger of the coronavirus pandemic. Trump claimed during a press conference at the White House, that the WHO "got it wrong in many ways".
President Trump: "The World WHO, World Health, they got it wrong. In many ways they were wrong." pic.twitter.com/hSAmTi34EX
— The Hill (@thehill) April 8, 2020
Trump mulled the possibility of cutting funding for the WHO, blaming it for being "China-centric".
The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look. Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 7, 2020
Trump's position was quickly echoed by GOP Senator Lindsey Graham.
Lindsey Graham says he’s going to take the burden off the President and use his position on the appropriations subcommittee to eliminate any money for the WHO in the next appropriations bill pic.twitter.com/PnxLmcWaYG
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) April 7, 2020
The World Health Organization's director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, responded to the accusation, recommending that the coronavirus pandemic should not be politicized.
"The focus of all political parties should be to save their people. Please don't politicize this virus. If you want to have many more body bags — then you do it. If you don't want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it", Ghebreyesus said during an online press briefing in Geneva.
The WHO shares all its information via websites and social media, providing guidelines and recommendations for public, countries, workplaces and institutions, while also keeping track of the number of confirmed cases around the world. According to the most recent data, there are over 1,500,000 cases globally with at least 94,000 fatalities.
