2 months prior to Europe was stated the epicentre of the pandemic, the EU agency suggested to sound the alarm of viral infections was painting a rosy image.

” Even if there are still lots of things unidentified about 2019- nCoV [coronavirus], European countries have the required capabilities to manage a break out and avoid as soon as cases are found,” it reported on 25 January.

Likewise called the European Centre for Illness Avoidance and Control (ECDC), the agency’s core objective is to determine, evaluate and interact existing and emerging dangers to human health positioned by contagious illness.

Some 280 people operate at the Stockholm-based agency, whose budget for 2019 was simply under EUR60 m, and whose guidance feeds into EU and national reactions.

Already the infection had actually broken out from China, into Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

When France revealed its first verified cases in late January, the ECDC kept its analysis.

It stated the French detections remained in truth “proof of high level of preparedness to prevent and control possible infections of 2019-nCoV.”

By the end of the March, France had actually stated war on the infection.

In a telecasted address, French president Emmanuel Macron revealed a call to arms, informing audiences in a telecasted address that”we are at war”

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Macron duplicated the expression 6 times in a period of 20 minutes.

The pandemic was currently raving through northern Italy, where some 1.2 m people in the Lombardy area had actually entered into lockdown.

Then the European Commission made a stunning statement.

Missing Out On 200 million face masks

Speaking with a near empty chamber of MEPs in Brussels on 27 March, it highlighted the enormous absence of medical equipment required to eliminate the pandemic that had actually currently eliminated thousands in the EU.

Maros Šefčovič, the Europe Commissioner in charge of “inter-institutional relations and foresight”, informed MEPs that 200 million face masks and 30 million respirators would be required “weekly for at least 3 months”.

The European Commission was not able to confirm if those figures were certainly appropriate, and Šefčovič might have fumbled.

However the entire legend points to a system of monitoring by an ECDC whose core objective depends on input from numerous sources that appear suspicious to start with.

Steven Blockmans, a specialist at the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Research studies, informed EUobserver last month, the ECDC had basically failed in its responsibilities.

“I mean this is officially the EU agency aimed at strengthening Europe’s defences against infectious diseases and yet it didn’t give any advance warning to this crisis,” he stated.

Blended messages

In an e-mail to this website, the ECDC protected its 25 January declaration.

It stated their threat evaluation had actually in truth been based upon the best proof currently readily available at the time.

Although it interacts with the network of national contact points in each member state, the agency did not state where that proof was sourced.

Rather, it stated their analysis at the time showed that avoidance and control of Covid-19 was practical.

Nevertheless, at the very same time, it appears to hold 2 inconsistent positions.

On one hand, it states EU member states have fully equipped labs. On other it states there are scarcities.

“Whilst a robust network of well-equipped laboratories exists across EU countries, according to the last survey at the beginning of March, laboratories have expressed shortages of test kits, reagents, PPEs and personnel on account of the large surge in demand,” it informed this website.

The blended message and the timeline of occasions appears to toss doubt on their analysis.

The individual who first attempted to sound the alarm in December had actually in truth been jailed by Chinese authorities.

Li Wenliang, an eye doctor at Wuhan Central Medical facility, attempted to caution others of the break out, informing them to use protective clothes to prevent infection. He was among 8 people authorities examined for “spreading rumours”.

A day after his message went public, China revealed to the world that a cluster of verified cases of pneumonia had actually appeared in Wuhan, Hubei Province.

Soon later on, in January, the World Health Organisation (WHO) claimed there was“no or limited human-to-human transmission”

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That message was duplicated by the ECDC.

“As of 16 January 2020, there is no clear indication of sustained human-to-human transmission,” it stated.

Less than a month later on, Li Wenliang passed away. He had actually been contaminated by Covid-19

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