Geneva: China did not voluntarily report the problem it was facing in Wuhan due to the Coronavirus outbreak that began in the city last year. ALSO READ | WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Expects Interim Results From Drug Trials For COVID Treatment Within Two Weeks


UN health agency has updated this detail in the timeline that it has posted to inform about the response to Coronavirus pandemic so far.

According to this timeline of events, on Dec 31, 2019: WHO's Country Office in China spotted a media statement by Wuhan's Municipal Health Commission on their website about cases of "viral pneumonia" in the city.

Then on January 1, the WHO requested the Chinese authorities to provide more information about the cluster of atypical pneumonia cases reported in Wuhan.

After that on January 2, WHO's representative in China offered the organisation's support to the National Health Commission and wrote to the commission requesting more information on the cluster of reported cases.

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According to WHO, Chinese officials provided information on the cluster of cases in Wuhan with"viral pneumonia of unknown cause" only on January 3.

WHO's updated timeline posted this week states the events related to the pandemic till June 26. It follows the timeline statement published in April 2020.

US President Donald Trump has several times accused WHO of being lenient on China. He has also presented unfound claims of the virus originating from a laboratory in China.

Earlier this week in a media briefing, the UN health body informed that it will send a team to China next week to investigate the source of the virus responsible for Covid-19.

(With agency inputs)

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