NEWS 23 JANUARY 2021 UPDATE 23 JANUARY 2021 Why did the world’s pandemic warning system fail when COVID hit? Nearly one year ago, the World Health Organization sounded the alarm about the coronavirus, but was ignored. Amy Maxmen PDF version WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is reviewing how the world responded to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic during an executive board meeting this week. Credit: Fabrice Coffrini/Reuters The World Health Organization (WHO) sounded its highest alarm on 30 January 2020 — a declaration called a ‘public health emergency of international concern’, or PHEIC, signalling that a pandemic might be imminent. Few countries heeded the WHO’s call for testing, tracing and social distancing to curb the coronavirus. By mid-March, it had spread around the world. Now, health officials and researchers are evaluating why the organization’s warning system failed and how to overhaul it. Many say the o...