Author: AFP|Update: 20.04.2021 09:15 © Unsplash A senior World Health Organization official spiked a critical report on Italy s response to coronavirus to avoid a political confrontation with Rome, according to Italian prosecution documents seen by AFP on Monday.
Ranieri Guerra, currently a special advisor to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is being investigated by prosecutors from the Italian city of Bergamo for lying to them about the handling of the report.
The 102-page WHO report, analysing Italy s early response to the pandemic and written by a small office of the UN agency in Venice, was released on May 13, 2020, and pulled the next day.
Coronavirus: un haut fonctionnaire italien de l OMS a obtenu le retrait d un document critique sur la réponse initiale de l Italie à la pandémie de Covid-19
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April 17, 2021 Share
The head of Italy’s national health institute distanced himself Friday from a scandal over a spiked World Health Organization report into Italy’s coronavirus response, saying he had no means to interfere with the U.N. agency and had never censored even inconvenient information from the public.
Dr. Silvio Brusaferro was drawn into the scandal after a leaked document from Bergamo prosecutors last week revealed transcripts of WhatsApp chats between Brusaferro and a WHO official, Dr. Ranieri Guerra, who is under investigation for having allegedly made false claims to prosecutors about the report.
The report, published in May last year as a guide to help countries prepare for COVID-19, sparked a nerve because it revealed that the Italian government hadn’t updated its pandemic preparedness plan since 2006. The report was pulled down from the WHO website a day after it was published and was never reposted, sparking speculation WHO spiked it to spare t
Dr Silvio Brusaferro was drawn into the scandal after a leaked document from Bergamo prosecutors last week revealed transcripts of WhatsApp chats between Brusaferro and a WHO official, Dr Ranieri Guerra, who is under investigation for having allegedly made false claims to prosecutors about the report
Senior WHO official under investigation by Italian judiciary
The headquarters of the World Health Organization in Geneva. The independence and transparency of the WHO is once again being questioned. Keystone / Martial Trezzini
Ranieri Guerra, a former deputy director-general of the World Health Organization, is accused by the Bergamo prosecutor s office of providing false information to prosecutors on Italy’s Covid-19 pandemic plan. He is currently special adviser to WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The news has sent shock waves through Italy and Geneva.
This content was published on April 16, 2021 - 09:00
April 16, 2021 - 09:00
Stéphane Bussard/Le Temps
It is a ticking bomb that is already having a strong impact both in Geneva and in Italy. Ranieri Guerra, who until recently was one of the 11 deputy directors-general of the World Health Organization and still remains a special adviser to the head of the organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is un
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