The world began to realise the impending catastrophe five years ago when the World Health Organisation declared that COVID-19 had spread to a pandemic, reports RTE.
Five weeks prior, the WHO had already issued its highest alert. However, that warning—which omits the “p” word—had not been taken seriously.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the chief of the United Nations health agency, finally acknowledged that the growing epidemic may be “characterised as a pandemic” during a press conference on March 11, 2020, reports RTE.
It was only at that point that several nations saw how serious the situation was and acted far too late.
Millions were died, businesses were destroyed, and health systems were severely damaged by the epidemic, which had not been seen like this in a century, reports RTE.
SHOC room scene
On January 30, 2020, Dr. Tedros sounded the most alarming alarm in the world when he declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The PHEIC ended on May 5, 2023, reports RTE.
During a news conference on March 9, 2020, Dr. Tedros stated that “the threat of a pandemic has become very real” in response to the numerous questions journalists had concerning the pandemic throughout February 2020.
The news conference on March 11 was set to take place in the basement room of the Strategic Health Operations Centre (SHOC) at the WHO headquarters in Geneva at 5 p.m. (4 p.m. Irish time).
WHO was using the emergency operations hub to provide internal morning updates on COVID-19 and to notify the media in the afternoon, reports RTE.
Dr. Tedros, WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan, and Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead at the WHO health emergencies program, were also included in the 59-minute press conference.
Looking around the room, Dr. Tedros grabbed two pens from his blazer, adjusted his glasses, and read his shocking update from a printout on his desk, reports RTE.
He started out by stating that the number of impacted nations had quadrupled to 114 and that the number of cases outside of China had surged 13-fold in the last two weeks. There were about 4,291 fatalities and thousands more hospitalised individuals.
“We’re deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity – and by the alarming levels of inaction,” Dr Tedros said, reports RTE.
“We have therefore made the assessment that Covid-19 can be characterised as a pandemic,” reports RTE.
Due to COVID-19, then-Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said on March 12 that Ireland’s schools, colleges, and childcare services will be closed until March 29.
After the deadline of March 29th passed, the nation was placed under complete lockdown for three months. It then reopened gradually over the course of several months into 2021, with sporadic lockdowns as the number of cases increased, reports RTE.
“We have not seen a pandemic of this nature in living memory,” Mr. Varadkar stated in his speech to the nation on March 12, 2020, from Washington, DC. This has never been done before, reports RTE.
We promised to respond appropriately when the moment was ripe.
To make the most difference, we must act right now, reports RTE.
Van Kerkhove was seated three rows apart from veteran journalist John Zarocostas.
“The word ‘pandemic’ changed the game,” he told AFP, which also attended the historic briefing, reports RTE.
He said that those in the meeting, who had been paying attention to WHO briefings, were not as shocked by the change as the outside world was.
“I had a feeling they (the WHO) had to do that because they were not getting the anticipated member state reaction” from the PHEIC declaration weeks earlier, he explained,” reports RTE.
“It changed the political dynamics in terms of national government reaction. They all moved into full gear.” reports RTE.
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