Its sycophantic relationship with China robbed governments of vital COVID-19 warnings two months prior and later became a death sentence for tens of thousands of people. As leaders sift through the tattered remnants of their economies the world must remember the advice that the $7.1 billion UN-funded WHO provided on January 30 at a time when China was already burying bodies and quarantining cities.

“The Committee does not recommend any travel or trade restriction based on the current information available,” the WHO decided. “The Committee welcomed the leadership and political commitment of the very highest levels of Chinese government, their commitment to transparency, and the efforts made to investigate and contain the current outbreak.” Two days prior to that announcement WHO director general Tedros Adhanom was photographed smiling and shaking hands with Xi Jinping. Happy snaps with the dictator himself.

A committee of WHO doctors then made the decision at the January 30 meeting in Geneva not to declare a global health emergency. But not every doctor wanted to cover up the severity of the pending pandemic and heap praise on an evil dictator who we now know hid at least 30 per cent of the cases from the world and God knows how many deaths. Notes of the meeting show the doctors expressed “divergent views on whether this event constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern or not”.

They argued. Some doctors wanted to declare the health emergency at that very meeting, but they were outvoted by a foolish group who would rather pander to China. Questions must be raised about the WHO’s financial reliance to the Great Red Dragon as well as whether China had any citizens involved in that decision. This journalist has written to the WHO asking for a list of the names of those who opposed the emergency declaration. Predictably the body which had the nerve to praise China for its transparency has not yet honoured the request. So what information did the WHO have when it buried the severity of COVID-19?

China had publicly confirmed 12,167 people were suspected of having the sickness, 1370 were fighting for their lives in Chinese hospitals and 170 people were dead. The virus had spread to 18 different countries with nearly all of those 83 confirmed cases having ties to China. Yet the WHO ignored those “divergent views” to declare a global health emergency and shut down travel. Today, 40,000 people are dead. Instead of launching an internal investigation the WHO has today lectured countries about not attaching “stigma” the COVID-19 and urging people not to talk about its origins in China.

And it even had the nerve to publish this article lobbying governments to tailor their border policy in a manner which would force them to take in refugees who come from persecuted regions even if they have coronavirus. “This disease can be controlled only if there is an inclusive approach which protects every individual’s rights to life and health,” they wrote. “Migrants and refugees are disproportionately vulnerable to exclusion, stigma and discrimination, particularly when undocumented.

“While countries are closing their borders and limiting cross-border movements, there are ways to manage border restrictions in a manner which respects international human rights and refugee protection standards, including the principle of non-refoulement, through quarantine and health checks.” The WHO is still not pushing for a complete lockdown despite the wreckage its own failures have already caused.