Jumping to attention: the W.H.O letter to Jacinda Adern, 23 March, 2020
At a recent protest outside Parliament lawyer, Sue Grey announced that she has come across a copy of a letter from WHO Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghabreyssus to New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Adern, dated 23 March, 2020.
It was going to be released but so far, to my knowledge that has has not happened. However, I have been given photographs of the latter which I have transcribed. If there are any mistakes I apologise – I am not well-known for my editing skills!
Not 2 days later, on the evening of 25 March, New Zealand went into complete lockdown.
The letter illustrates the language of globalist authorities in demanding action where just a short period of time prior they were refusing to acknowledge the situation, possibly facilitating the spread of the virus (as did the New Zealand government).
World Health Organisation
Ms. Jacinda Adern
Prime Minister and Minister for Arts,
Culture and Heritage, and National
Security and Intelligence of New Zealand
Office of the Prime Minister
Parliament Building
Wellington
Nouvelle-Zélande
23 March, 2021
Dear Prime Minister,
I have the honour to write to you to thank you for all your efforts to limit the scale and impact of the coronavirus disease pandemic and to request your support and catalysing and urgently needed extensive societal movement to stop this disease as rapidly as possible.
Never before has the world been faced with an infectious respiratory disease like COVID 19 – a disease that is decimating communities and economies, and causing significant human suffering. Despite this, COID-19 is a disease that can be stopped through the implementation of an effective response strategy. Preventing the spread of COVID-19 by limiting and then stopping chains of transmission is feasible and should remain the top priority for all countries – the faster and more comprehensive this action, the greater the possibility of ending this outbreak rapidly.
Prime Minister, we have held weekly briefings with the permanent missions in Geneva to update them on the COVID-19 pandemic and progress in the response. The COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response lan was launched to guide the global response based on the situation in countries. I am encouraged by the reports I received from many countries, which show they are moving forward and tackling the virus and mitigating its impact.
To date, certain countries have not seen any cases of COVID-19, some countries have identified sporadic infections or limited clusters, while others have documented community transmission. In writing this letter, I would like to summarise a series of fundamental actions that require your leadership, and that I needed if the world is to overcome this global health crisis that will mark our generation – irrespective of the stage of the outbreak in your country.
Your political leadership is indispensable, and can be leveraged through a coordinated, capacitated and operationalised response strategy, including:
- Activating relevant emergency protocols and shoring up emergency response financing to ensure readiness and strong coordination among response entities;
- Establishing a national COVID-19 emergency management office linked to provincial – state mechanisms, in order to facilitate national and international response management;
- Enabling whole of government coordination mechanisms – including health, transport, travel, trade, finance, security and other relevant sectors – in order to leverage existing assets and re-orient resources, roles and responsibilities in step with the evolution of the outbreak;
- Stopping public gatherings, both to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spread and, just as importantly, to facilitate the response;
- Re-purposing key government assets and ministries to implement the national strategy of testing, isolation and quarantine verification;
- Putting in place a national contingency plan to guide provinces states and adapting their operations in an orderly manner, if and when the situation they are handling moves from sporadic cases to clusters of cases, and then on to communitywide transmission; and
- Equipping local public health authorities and first line responders with adequate resources and ensuring their ability to scale a response as the situation evolves – such resources include requisite diagnostic capacity, medical supplies such as personal protective equipment (PPE), and adequate surge capacity for patient care.
Prime Minister, your personal engagement is needed to mobilise communities and catalyse a societal movement to combat COVID-19. Amplifying your voice and presence through prominent multimedia channels, and equipping your citizenry with evidence based guidance and a clear understanding of the action needed by means of regular addresses to the nation, will prove invaluable. You may wish to consider:
- Engaging all segments of society – including leaders from sup national authorities, religious groups, societal organisations, professional bodies, the media, schools, universities and beyond, and figures from the worlds of sport and entertainment – and encouraging national, sub national and local administrations to engage with all these stakeholders in ways that leave no one behind;
- Making crystal clear the severity of this disease for your population, as this is fundamental to their full engagement: the threat is at least of greater magnitude than that post by the seasonal flu and the disease can strike all age groups;
- Ensuring that your population understands that the success of COVID-19 control is totally dependent on speed, and that the population itself must be the countries rapid surveillance system of fever and dry cough;
- helping the citizenry to appreciate the importance of hand hygiene, cough etiquette and social distancing, and enabling them to understand why society-wide measures, such as reducing gatherings or curtailing movement – sometimes have to be introduced;
- eliminating all financial and other barriers that can impede the isolation and swift testing of all suspect cases; and
- establishing contingency plans and providing economic relief for those sub populations disproportionately affected by the outbreak (e.g. the elderly, gig economy workers and low income earners) to ensure that response efforts I’m not hindered by a disenfranchised citizenry.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) stands ready to support you and your government should you face any difficulties in advancing these key response priorities. Please do not hesitate to let me know what WHO can do to support your government.
Finally, prime minister, your role in fostering solidarity between nations is critical to the success of national and international responses. As the virus is not constrained by geographics or politics, decisions in any one country have the potential to impact response efforts across the globe. Thus, the politicisation of the outbreak, or complacency in the nations response, can constitute insurmountable impediments to overcoming this virus – both nationally and globally.
The sharing of capacities, lessons learned, good practices in tackling this outbreak, to the same degree as the compassion shown by global leaders in viewing and treating humanity inclusively. In the face of the scourge, the international Community must stand together and must mount a unified counter-attack. Concrete actions you may wish to consider towards this common objective include:
- Rapidly sharing information on cases and major control measures with WHO in order to inform the international risk management and knowledge-sharing effort;
- Minimising international restrictions on travel and trade in order to facilitate the global response and minimise economic impact;
- Generating the best possible tools by participating in prioritised, standardised WHO coordinated multi-country trials for therapeutics and vaccines; and
- Maintaining a commitment to reduce COVID-19 transmission nationally, recognising that in our interconnected world and economies, the action against COVID-19 and each country affects all others.
Once again, thank you, Prime Minister, for your resolve and for your commitment to stopping the spread of COVID-19. Indeed, this challenge warrants a global effort, and WHO stands ready to continue supporting the international community in addressing the global public health emergency.
Please accept, Prime Minister, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghabreyssus
Director-General
***
In this context, it may be worthwhile reminding ourselves of the history of the first months of the virus
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FIRST MONTHS OF CORONAVIRUS
As the coronavirus was spreading in China in January, Dr. Tedros was saying there was “no proof” of human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus.
It was February 12 that the WHO gave the novel coronavirus a name – COVID-19
I shared the opinion of Mike Adams that the WHO (and the New Zealand government) was actually “rooting for the virus”
“In addition to calling on the international community not to restrict tourism and trade due to the epidemic, the Secretary-General also praised China for taking major measures,” reports LTN (translated from Chinese).
“The World Health Organization did not find enough evidence to impose restrictions on China’s travel and trade,” reports CGTN.com. In a stunning contradiction on the part of the WHO, CGTN also reports:
Galea’s remarks came after WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, designated 2019-nCoV, has become a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), in other words, a global health emergency.
However, the UN health body stressed that it does not recommend restrictions on trade and travel.
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It was not until March 12, 2020 that a pandemic was declared by the WHO
Dr. Tedros’ letter to Jacinda Adern is dated 23 March, 2020
New Zealand went into lockdown on the 25 March, 2020
Covid-19: New Zealand is now in lockdown
As Covid-19 spreads around the world, it can be daunting keeping up with the information. For RNZ, our responsibility is to give you verified, up to the minute, trustworthy information to help you make decisions about your lives and your health. We’ll also be asking questions of officials and decision makers about how they’re responding to the virus. Our aim is to keep you informed.
As New Zealand enters the unprecedented four-week Covid-19 lockdown that started at midnight, here’s how the country was preparing to cope just the day before on 25 March.
Photo: RNZ
Ahead of the lockdown, a State of National Emergency has been declared.
As we go head into isolation, confirmed cases of the coronavirus have hit 205. Fifty new cases were announced on Wednesday.
The number of cases is expected to go up, despite the lockdown, before it goes down.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made her final comments to the public before isolation kicks in, aiming to inform and reassure.
But she also had a simple message – “stay home”.
“It will break the chain of transmission and it will save lives,” she said.
“You are not alone, you will hear us and see us daily, as we guide New Zealand through this period. It won’t always be perfect, but the principle of what we’re doing is the right one.”
- If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs) or call your GP – don’t show up at a medical centre
Ardern, along with a small number of MPs, returned to Parliament to debate and pass much needed legislation to allow the government to effectively deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The legislation covers tax, welfare, immigration, voting, health, and more.
But it wasn’t just the government trying to get ready for the lockdown.
People seeking clarity over what constituted essential services got some of the answers they were looking for.
Local government was getting ready, tenant groups called for more support for renters, people shared tips for staying connected and how to keep kids happy and healthy.
See all RNZ coverage of Covid-19
Meanwhile, shoppers still stocking up faced one-in, one-out policies in supermarkets, and tech stores reported a run on home office supplies as people prepared to work remotely.
Some headed for coastal baches to hunker down.
Others had worries.
Food banks had been experiencing high demand and were worried about low stocks.
The Royal College of GPs is calling for the rationing of data and phone calls, concerned that increased use was overloading the system, making it harder for patients to contact them and for doctors to reach out to patients.
And scammers and hackers are crafting sophisticated attacks, targeting staff working remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic.
With nearly every aspect of life affected by the lockdown, information is being shared left, right and centre to let people know how things will work going forward.
For example, a judge has given clarity for parents with shared custody.
The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has said people must take sick leave if they are sick and can not work, but employees could not be forced to take annual leave during the isolation period.
And tenants have been told skipping rent isn’t an option.
Microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles has answered a range of questions about the lockdown and RNZ has answered the questions most commonly plugged into Google.
At this point, for most people where you are tonight is where you have to stay for the next four weeks.
We’ll leave you with some words from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern:
“As we enter into a stage that none of us have experienced before, I want to share a few messages. You are not alone… Success won’t be instant… You may not be at work but that does not mean you don’t have a job. Your job is to save lives.
“If you have any questions and you are looking for answers, apply a simple rule – act like you have Covid-19.
“Be kind, stay at home, break the chain.”
A few months ago I put out a series of videos which discussed the early timeline (January-April, 2020 of the pandemic).
I regard it as very important to remember this early history as history is constantly rewritten
Part one
Part two
Part three
