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Ahead of #WHA73, @ThinkGlobalHlth interviewed Taiwan Foreign Minister Wu on his country's success against #COVID19 & confrontation with @WHO.

It was a long, candid interview and worth reading in its entirety, but this thread is about WHO-specific bits 1/ thinkglobalhealth.org/article/corona…
For context, Taiwanese officials in March indicated they had warned WHO about evidence of human to human transmission. Here is how a press report characterized that claim 2/
ft.com/content/2a70a0…
This claim was picked up by @WSJ editorial on April 5 on the behavior of WHO in #COVID19 in burying evidence of human-to-human transmission against on behalf of China 3/
wsj.com/articles/world…
WHO pushed back on April 10, saying that the email made no mention of human to human transmission and called for Taiwan to back up its claims 4/ straitstimes.com/world/europe/w…
On April 11, Taiwan released the text of email, arguing it strongly hinted at the possibility of human transmission" 5/
focustaiwan.tw/politics/20200…
The President picked up the claim 6/
As have a number of commentators 7/
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
Here is what Minister Wu had to say in @ThinkGlobalHlth 8/

thinkglobalhealth.org/article/corona…
Minister Wu also said this: 9/

thinkglobalhealth.org/article/corona…
WHO's response did not convey that it understood a real concern had been raised or convey an intention to dig deeper

According to Minister Wu, Taiwan did not follow up on its email w/WHO or raise its concerns to other nations 10/
thinkglobalhealth.org/article/corona…
A patient being put in isolation on 12/31 conveys that there is a potential for human to human transmission.

That's not inconsistent with WHO statements, even in this now infamous tweet on 1/14 11/
The email controversy is lamentable because it may obscure Taiwan's overall argument, which Minister Wu explains here in @ThinkGlobalHlth 12/

thinkglobalhealth.org/article/corona…
And here: 13/
thinkglobalhealth.org/article/corona…
And here : 14/14
thinkglobalhealth.org/article/corona…
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Tom Bollyky
@TomBollyky
The global response to #COVID19 has stalled over a question of scheduling:

When should there be a review of national and international responses to pandemic, including @WHO’s actions?

Thread cc: @ForeignAffairs & @CFR_org 1/

foreignaffairs.com/articles/china…
The US wants review now.

It has blocked actions at G20, G7, and put a hold to US funding to @WHO. It wants accountability for virus’s origins, for China’s behavior, and for WHO handling of the pandemic 2/ theguardian.com/world/2020/apr…
Australia also wants review now 3/
Read 11 tweets
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Tom Bollyky
@TomBollyky
Trump announces hold on WHO funding, blaming it for a “20-fold” increase in #COVID19 cases worldwide

@JeremyKonyndyk and I outlined earlier today in @washingtonpost the many reasons why this is wrong and a really dumb idea amid a pandemic @CFR_org 1/ washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/0…
On 1/23, @WHO held news conference, confirming a basic picture of #SARS2CoV that holds up reasonably well today:

- a novel coronavirus spreading person to person
- more transmissible than the seasonal flu and
- 40 times deadlier, with an estimated fatality rate of 4%

2/
Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan all looked at that same @WHO info and triggered immediate action while the United States did not

WHO is far from a perfect institution, but it is hardly responsible for the slow U.S. response to this crisis 3/
Read 10 tweets
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Tom Bollyky
@TomBollyky
Blaming the @WHO for a 'faulty' recommendation on travel bans on #COVID19 that White House ignored is odd.

It also does not correspond with the evidence Thread 1/
Travel bans neither stopped the spread of this novel #coronavirus nor prevented it from becoming a pandemic.

This is latest update our @ThinkGlobalHlth tracker of #COVID19 cases in countries with travel restrictions on China (red) & countries without such restrictions (blue) 2/
96 countries and territories imposed travel restrictions on China due to #COVID19. The median duration was 66 days. Most frequently seen duration has been 68 days 3/
thinkglobalhealth.org/article/tracki…
Read 12 tweets

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