I have been meaning to do a thread detailing @mvankerkhove & @DrMikeRyan's response to a question at the 13 April #COVID19 press briefing re: criticisms that @WHO was late to the game, particularly in declaring human-to-human transmission. Here it is. 1/18 https://twitter.com/LeeAnneP8/status/1250443486987313153

Here is a link to the press briefing: https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1249718175597543432?s=20. The relevant section is from 22:24 to 27:00. 2/18

@mvankerkhove, @WHO's technical lead for #COVID19, is a MERS specialist (background in coronaviruses & influenza). Once China notified WHO on 31/12/2019 of a cluster of pneumonia, a respiratory pathogen, she thought there may be H-2-H transmission & advised accordingly. 3/18

In early January when @WHO began putting together technical guidance for member states, they considered how this virus, as a respiratory pathogen, might spread & focused on droplet & contact transmission. 4/18

In early January when @WHO put together technical guidance on infection prevention & control, they included a special provision for health care workers who are focused on aerosol-generating procedures, putting in place recommendations for airborne transmission. 5/18

This #COVID19 guidance is still in effect. It is publicly available online and has been since @WHO published a package of several technical guidance materials January 10-11. It was shared with all member states. 6/18

@WHO technical guidance published January 10-11 included materials on: surveillance (finding cases); labs (detecting cases); infection prevention & control, particularly on preventing infection in health care facilities; readiness checklist; and a disease commodity package. 7/18

@mvankerkhove: @WHO was concerned by the possibility of transmission in health care facilities given experiences with SARS & MERS & was keen to prevent any amplification or superspreading events in health care facilities. She stated this worry at Jan 14 press briefing. 8/18

@WHO's #COVID19 readiness checklist was designed to help countries think about how ready they were to deal with a respiratory pathogen and what systems they needed to put in place. 9/18

@WHO's disease commodity package listed all the materials that might be needed to detect & care for cases by treating patients symptomatically given there wasn't (& still isn't) a treatment. 10/18

This guidance was put in place Jan 10-11, focused on respiratory & droplet transmission & contained recommendations to stop people from getting infected this way because @WHO suspected there could be human-to-human transmission as #COVID19 is from a respiratory pathogen. 11/18

Moreover, this #COVID19 guidance, which aimed at protecting people from droplet transmission, was put in place by @WHO Jan 10-11 despite China not yet having reported any clear evidence of human-to-human transmission at that time. 12/18

@MikeRyan outlined official information given to all member states in early January. Jan 5 - @WHO issued an alert on its epidemic platform and published information on the outbreak. 13/18

@DrMikeRyan: Jan 7, @CDCgov established incident management system & subsequently issued health advisory to all front-line health & public health staff, detailing droplet spread precautions & procedures to investigate & report cases meeting the preliminary case definition. 14/18

@DrMikeRyan: from the perspective of @WHO and @CDCgov's actions in early January, information was shared and very appropriate actions were taken in the US in response to that alert. 15/18

If you've watched the April 13 WHO press briefing and/or read this thread, I hope it's clear that @GordonGChang's tweet misrepresented both @mvankerkhove & @WHO. People commenting on his tweet worried Dr Van Kerkhove was fired or needed to be put in witness protection! 16/18

Not true. @mvankerkhove is exceptional at what she does, hardworking and committed to #COVID19 response. Her words have been twisted by unscrupulous members of the media and people with an axe to grind, targeting @WHO & @DrTedros. 17/18

Anybody who has listened to @WHO press briefings knows @mvankerkhove is an intelligent & clear communicator, honest about what's known, unknown or uncertain about #COVID19 based on the evidence available. She's spoken publicly in support of the D-G @DrTedros & is #ProudtobeWHO.