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Re:WHO says Covid-19 pandemic is 'one big wave', not seasonal by iso1631 on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @02:00PM (#23978755)
Wikipedia has 3 clear link from Jan 14th - the Telegraph (UK), Straits Times (Singapore) and Reuters, all conveying the quote that there was indeed human to human spreading, but at the time it seemed limited. Which is right.

The WHO further said

  "It is still early days, we don’t have a clear clinical picture."

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-pneumonia-wh...
Re:WHO says Covid-19 pandemic is 'one big wave', not seasonal by kop316 on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @02:08PM (#23978860)
Fair enough....but the grandparent comment said "Go back and actually read the full set of WHO statements".

I only found two WHO statements, and they are discussing the minutes of emergency meetongs on COVID in January. Are those what they are referring to? If so, which one?

Re:WHO says Covid-19 pandemic is 'one big wave', not seasonal by iso1631 on Wednesday July 29, 2020 @11:02AM (#23987409)
Here's a statement from Jan 9th

https://web.archive.org/web/20200115194156/https://www.who.i...

"Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses with some causing less-severe disease, such as the common cold, and others more severe disease such as MERS and SARS. Some transmit easily from person to person, while others do not. According to Chinese authorities, the virus in question can cause severe illness in some patients and does not transmit readily between people"

That seems very responsible reporting given that only 10 days after being made aware of it, WHO wouldn't have been able to gather any independent evidence. They said it could transmit easily from person to person, but it might not.

Statement on Jan 13th

https://web.archive.org/web/20200115230651/https://www.who.i...

Certainly doesn't say anything along the lines of "there will be no human-human transmission", just calls (which were mostly unheeded in the west) for active monitoring and preparedness

Taiwan didn't get a first case until Jan 21st, which was someone who travelled from Wuhan. It wasn't until Jan 28th they had a domestic case which wasn't linked to Wuhan, so expecting the WHO to have independent evidence in mid January isn't realistic. They reported the evidence they had and pleaded with the world to take it seriously. Taiwan listened, Europe and America didn't.