Brazil tops 4m cases as panel looks into global response to coronavirus

Panel will rake over heavily criticised WHO-led response and have full access to files, as worldwide death toll rises

Soldiers taking part in the cleaning and disinfection of the Municipal Market in Belo Horizonte in Brazil last month. On Thursday, Brazil topped four million cases with more than 124,000 deaths, second only to the United States. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

RIO DE JANEIRO • Brazil surpassed four million coronavirus cases on Thursday, as an international panel looking into the global response to the pandemic vowed to uncover how it was able to spread worldwide.

"This is a strong panel poised to ask the hard questions," said former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPR), which will rake over the heavily criticised World Health Organisation-led response.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International said more than 7,000 health care workers have died of the virus worldwide, including more than 1,300 in Mexico alone, the most for any country.

The virus continued to disrupt the world of sport and entertainment, with filming of the new Batman movie halted in Britain because its star Robert Pattinson reportedly tested positive for the disease.

French football team Paris Saint-Germain said three more of its squad had been infected, a day after Neymar and two teammates were diagnosed, and Argentine football giants Boca Juniors said 18 of its players had tested positive just two weeks before restarting their Copa Libertadores campaign.

Brazil topped four million cases with more than 124,000 deaths, second only to the United States. There were almost 44,000 new cases over the previous 24 hours alone, and 834 fatalities.

But some experts saw a silver lining in the statistics - the South American giant could be on the verge of improvement.

"In the last two months, we have seen a curve that mixes regions that are increasing, with others that are decreasing," said University of Sao Paulo professor of epidemiology Paulo Lotufo, pointing to spikes in the south and centre-west, while cases were falling in the major cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, as well as in the north.

But experts warned the situation could worsen again if local and regional governments reopen the economy too soon, and if social distancing measures are abandoned.

As the death toll rose, the IPPR said its members would have unfettered access to the WHO's files.

The WHO "made it clear that their files are an open book. Anything we want to see, we see," said former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, who co-heads the panel with Ms Sirleaf.

"If another (pandemic) took off like this in short order, how devastating that would be, now that we know the extent of damage that can be done," she said.

The WHO has been accused of being slow off the mark to react to the initial Covid-19 outbreak in China. It has also come under fierce attack from US President Donald Trump, who is withdrawing his country from the UN agency.

Against that backdrop, WHO member states in May agreed to a resolution calling for an "impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation... to review experience gained and lessons learnt from the WHO-coordinated international health response" to the pandemic.

"Despite many warnings for years now that such a pandemic was a significant global risk, why was the world caught off-guard?" Ms Clark asked.

Virus disruptions and travel restrictions have wreaked havoc on the global economy.

Group of 20 foreign ministers held a virtual meeting hosted by Saudi Arabia to seek international cooperation over easing travel restrictions and reopening borders.

Israel announced a new lockdown affecting 30 areas as it grapples with one of the world's highest infection rates and a death toll nearing 1,000.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 05, 2020, with the headline Brazil tops 4m cases as panel looks into global response to coronavirus. Subscribe