Thread by @kakape

#covid19 presser @WHO starts with @DrTedros ceding the floor to Didier Houssin, who chairs the emergency committee on #covid19. The committe met again yesterday, 3 months after recommending a #PHEIC be declared.

@WHO @DrTedros Houssin says several recommendations were made to @WHO, highlights a few:
- mitigate possible disruptions of food supply in some countries
- develop strategy guidance for a safe return to normal passenger travel
- revise recommendations on appropriate travel measures

@WHO @DrTedros Also recommendations to member states:
- support WHO leadership "We have only one WHO and we are in the middle of a pandemic”
- work with WHO and other partners to interrupt virus transmission
- address knowledge gaps. “We know too little about the transmissions of the virus”

@WHO @DrTedros .@DrTedros says @WHO accepts another recommendation: "that WHO works to identify the animal source of the coronavirus through international scientific and collaborative missions, in collaboration with @OIEAnimalHealth and @FAO”

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO "We will continue working with countries and partners to enable essential travel needed for pandemic response, humanitarian relief and cargo operations, and for countries to gradually resume normal passenger travel”, says @DrTedros

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO Says he hopes @WHO members countries will listen to emergency committee's recommendations for them as well: "we encourage countries to pay careful attention to that advice”.

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO Mentions upcoming EU pledging conference "to generate funds for investment in vaccine research”. A new memorandum of understanding with the European Investment Bank @EIB covers five main areas of work:

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO @EIB - a new EU Malaria Fund for more effective vaccines, drugs and diagnostics
- tackle antibiotic resistance and develop new antibiotics
- invest in primary health care in Africa and Middle East
- support #COVID19 supply chain system
- study market failures in public health

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO @EIB Werner Hoyer, president of @EIB, says economic, social and health impact of #covid19 pandemic is "unprecedented in peace time since the great depression of the 1930s”. Says the response "needs to be coordinated, bold, quick, and reactive to a changing environment"

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO @EIB Q from Uganda:
How should countries handle lifting lockdowns?
@DrMikeRyan says it’s difficult to give global advice given how different lockdowns are. Says it’s clear that measures worked to suppress virus in many places and "exiting requires a careful, well-planned process"

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO @EIB @DrMikeRyan Q: Does the emergency committee have any regrets about not making decision to declare PHEIC at first meeting?
@DrMikeRyan says the committee did ask @WHO to collect more information and be reconvened

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO @EIB @DrMikeRyan .@drtedros adds committee was divided and decided to reconvene to see whether they can reach a consensus. Says he believes #PHEIC was declared "in a timely fashion”, allowed enough time for the world to respond.

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO @EIB @DrMikeRyan (Tedros said much more than this. But he has a habit sometimes of launching into these slow soliloquies that include a lot of repetition and mostly reiterate things he - and others - have said before, so that they are easy to compact into one or a few sentences)

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO @EIB @DrMikeRyan Houssin also answers. Says in hindsight may look clear, but at the time emergency committee met for the first time there were only a few cases outside of China. Agrees with Tedros that declaration was timely.

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO @EIB @DrMikeRyan "Mexico is like many countries in central and south America on an increasing trend”, says @DrMikeRyan in response to question from Mexico. Says more needs to be done in terms of surveillance and to get virus under control.

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO @EIB @DrMikeRyan .@DrMikeRyan says he thinks that "we need to find a more sustainable solution for dealing with those in our societies dealing with mental health illness” than large mental health institutions in which people"are sometimes abandoned” - and not just because of epidemics

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO @EIB @DrMikeRyan Houssin says he cannot discuss what individual members said in first #covid19 emergency committee meeting since there is a non-disclosure agreement on the negotiations. There was a need to find a consensus to make a recommendation and that wasn’t reached.

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO @EIB @DrMikeRyan Does WHO believe the Wuhan Institute of Virology is the origin of #covid19?
@DrMikeRyan says "we have listened again and again to numerous scientists… and were assured that this virus is natural in origin.” (conflating q of lab origin and creation like so many others)

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO @EIB @DrMikeRyan Q from China noting no more severe #covid19 cases in Wuhan and asking for WHO comment (frequently such questions from Chinese media, basically fishing for compliments on national level). @mvankerkhove: "Nothing but admiration and thanks”.. congratulates "the people of Wuhan”.

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO @EIB @DrMikeRyan @mvankerkhove “This virus likes to find the cracks and it will exploit those cracks", says @mvankerkhove on staying vigilant in times of #covid19.

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO @EIB @DrMikeRyan @mvankerkhove Rising #covid19 case count in countries with high numbers of vulnerable or displaced populations is particular concern, says @DrMikeRyan: Haiti, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Yemen, many others.

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO @EIB @DrMikeRyan @mvankerkhove "We remain deeply concerned about the impact that this disease will have in communities that are already greatly underserved” and have many underlying conditions, says @DrMikeRyan. “These populations have already suffered too much.”

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO @EIB @DrMikeRyan @mvankerkhove "No-one on this planet will be safe until everyone is safe”, says @drmikeryan. And points out that letting the virus spread in some places or populations is neither the right thing nor the smart thing to do.

@WHO @DrTedros @OIEAnimalHealth @FAO @EIB @DrMikeRyan @mvankerkhove Presser ends with @DrTedros wishing everyone a happy Labor Day and saying: “This too will pass. And the antidote is solidarity”.