＂It’s too slow! This is a profound global tragedy. ＂

　　"This is a profound tragedy and a multi-level global anti-epidemic failure." On September 14th, The Lancet, an internationally renowned medical journal, published a research report on the COVID-19 epidemic, clearly pointing out that the World Health Organization and most governments were too slow to respond to the COVID-19 epidemic, and many failed policies led to millions of avoidable deaths.

　　"Lessons Learned by The Lancet Members from the New Crown Epidemic" Screenshot of The Lancet magazine website.

　　According to public information, the The Lancet COVID-19 Epidemic Committee, which wrote this report, was established in July 2020, and its members include 28 global experts from public policy, international cooperation, epidemiology, vaccinology, economics, mental health and other fields. The Committee also supervised the work of 12 thematic groups composed of 173 experts.

　　The report criticized the performance of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the early stage of the outbreak of COVID-19, arguing that the organization was "too cautious and slow" in warning Covid-19’s interpersonal communication ability, listing the new epidemic as a "public health emergency of international concern" and supporting the public to wear masks.

　　The report also pointed out that the governments of most countries and regions in the world were also too slow to recognize the importance of the COVID-19 epidemic in time and take countermeasures. Although countries are highly interdependent, most governments have insufficient policy coordination to curb the epidemic. "As a result, millions of avoidable deaths have been caused and the process of sustainable development in many countries has been set back."

　　The report specifically mentions that before 2019, it is generally believed that the United States and Britain have the strongest ability to cope with the epidemic, and China and other western Pacific countries have lower scores. However, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the actual situation was completely contrary to expectations. These western Pacific countries took timely response measures and generally implemented policies to contain the epidemic.

　　The Lancet magazine’s COVID-19 Epidemic Committee pointed out that according to the report of the Institute of Health Indicators Assessment (IHME) of the University of Washington, as of the end of May this year, the number of deaths reported by COVID-19 epidemic worldwide exceeded 6.9 million. However, considering that a large number of deaths have not been officially counted, the agency estimates that the actual death toll may reach more than 17.2 million.

　　"This amazing figure is a profound tragedy and a multi-level global failure." "Too many governments have failed to abide by the basic principles of institutional rationality and transparency, too many people have failed to respect and oppose basic public health preventive measures, and too many countries have failed to cooperate to control the epidemic," the Committee wrote in its report.

　　On September 21, 2021, a white flag was erected in national mall, Washington, USA to commemorate the image of COVID-19’s deceased.

　　With regard to the current spread of virus strains in Omicron, The Lancet also pointed out that most countries prematurely canceled public health policies such as nucleic acid testing, wearing masks and social distance, which will bring high costs, and the extremely high infection rate will also disrupt education and work, bring considerable burden to health services and undermine economic recovery.

　　"At this stage, we should keep in mind three major risks. First of all, future variants may be highly contagious and deadly. Secondly, people who are not vaccinated at present are still vulnerable to morbidity and mortality, and provide opportunities for the virus to spread freely, increasing the risk of dangerous mutations. Finally, the Omicron epidemic shows that even people who are highly vaccinated may have economic chaos. The epidemic will lead to shortage of health and basic industries, suspension of schools, interruption of commercial operations, and hinder the recovery of tourism and international travel. "

　　Based on the reflection on the failure of most countries to fight the epidemic, the The Lancet COVID-19 Epidemic Committee called on the whole world to coordinate efforts to end the COVID-19 epidemic on a fast and fair basis.

　　The recommendations put forward in the report include that countries should implement vaccine strategies aimed at protecting the population on a sustainable basis; Strengthen national health systems and formulate plans to prevent epidemics; Pursue a global strategy to strengthen the R&D and production capacity in all regions of WHO, including low-income areas; Reform WHO, strengthen its functions and substantially increase its budget.

　　Regarding the report published by The Lancet magazine, the World Health Organization responded on September 15th that they agreed with the general recommendations listed by the Committee in the report, which is consistent with WHO’s commitment to strengthen the capacity of epidemic preparedness, prevention and response. However, WHO also claimed that there were several "key omissions and misunderstandings" in the report, especially underestimating the speed and scope of WHO’s handling of the COVID-19 epidemic.

　　Screenshot of WHO statement

　　Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, said at the press conference on 14th, "We haven’t reached that step yet, but the end point is just around the corner … … But marathoners will never stop when they see the finish line, but will try their best and run harder. Now is the time to run harder to ensure that we cross the finish line and reap the fruits of our hard work. "

　　Regarding the upcoming epidemic situation in autumn and winter, WHO experts believe that there may be a new wave of infection in the future, and urge countries to maintain high vigilance. Maria Van Kerkhoff, technical director of WHO’s health emergency project, said at a news conference on 14th that Covid-19 is still spreading at a high level all over the world, and the actual number of confirmed cases has been underestimated.

　　She predicted that there might be an infection tide caused by Omicron subtype strains or even new mutant strains in different places and at different time points in the future. However, she also stressed that because people already have anti-epidemic tools such as vaccines and antiviral drugs, the new wave of infection does not necessarily mean more new deaths.

　　According to the Financial Times, Jeffery Sachs, the chairman of The Lancet magazine’s COVID-19 Epidemic Committee and a professor at Columbia University, also warned that it was time to "face the grim facts".

　　Sachs pointed out in his report that the COVID-19 epidemic exposed the weakness of the multilateral system based on the United Nations. He believes that these failures mainly stem from vaccine nationalism, inflexibility of intellectual property system and political erosion of multilateral solutions.

　　"Our most basic proposal is to strengthen multilateralism in all key areas such as politics, culture, institutions and finance." Sachs wrote, "We call on all countries, especially the richest and most powerful countries, to support, maintain and strengthen the work of the United Nations system."

　　Source: Observer Network