WHO Demands 90,000 Influenza and COVID PCR Tests Per Month
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released its overview of “pandemic influenza preparedness and response activities,” in which it reasserts its expectation that labs all over the world provide the unelected foreign body with 90,000 influenza and coronavirus PCR tests per month.
The unprecedented scale of continuous PCR testing on tens of thousands of human respiratory specimens raises serious privacy concerns and questions why the WHO is expanding reliance on a testing method whose reliability has long been contested.
A 2020 Clinical Infectious Diseases publication confirms that cultures from 97% of PCR-positive specimens are unable to grow live virus in cell culture, meaning the vast majority of PCR ‘positives’ do not correspond to detectable, infectious virus.
Moreover, BLAST genetic analysis confirms that the CDC’s influenza PCR primers and probe share widespread partial sequence homology with the human genome, raising questions about how reliably the assay distinguishes influenza virus from background human genetic material in respiratory samples.
Will the WHO again declare a pandemic based on PCR results instead of confirmed infections?
Dr. Kary Mullis, the late inventor of the PCR test, said in a 1997 interview (here) that his test should not be used to determine whether a subject is infected with a virus.
This is because the test “can find almost anything in anybody,” tainting the results, according to the Nobel Prize winner.
“Anyone can test positive for practically anything with a PCR test. If you run it long enough… you can find almost anything in anybody,” Dr. Mullis said. “It doesn’t tell you that you’re sick.”
WHO Outline
The new WHO overview outlines its expectations that sovereign nations must “adhere” to:
Member States and other participants agreed on a set of recommendations to enhance and accelerate the implementation of the PIP Partnership Contributions in the region, aiming to strengthen collaborative efforts in improving the core capacities required for pandemic influenza preparedness.
Under the strategic objective of “Surveillance, monitoring and data utilization” in the Global Influenza Strategy multiple efforts have been made by WHO, WHO Collaborating Centres and other partners to support MS to adhere to the threshold of processing at least 50 samples and preferably 150 samples per week for diagnosis of Influenza and SARS CoV 2 at the national level as recommended in the “WHO End-to-end integration of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza sentinel surveillance: revised interim guidance” and recently published Implementing the integrated sentinel surveillance of influenza and other respiratory viruses of epidemic and pandemic potential by the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System.
The number of specimens processed for testing for influenza (and SARS-CoV-2) in the South-East Asia Region (SEAR) Member States by the end of week 49 in 2024 was 55,357 samples (median: 1,174.5). This represents a 2.5% increase in the number of specimens processed in 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 (53,975 samples; median: 1,194). The total number of samples processed in all SEAR countries in 2024 was 32% less than the expected number of 80,850 samples to be processed over 49 weeks, based on the national threshold of 150 samples per National Influenza Centre (NIC) per week. However, for operational feasibility, WHO recommends that at least 50 samples be processed per week, as stated in the ‘WHO End-to-End Integration of SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza Sentinel Surveillance: Revised Interim Guidance.‘ When this recommendation was applied, the number of samples processed for influenza (and SARS-CoV-2) testing over 49 weeks was 1.1 times higher than the minimum expected number of 26,950 samples for the region.
The trend of samples processed for testing for influenza (and simultaneously for SARS-CoV-2) with multiplex real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rt-PCR) assays for the period from 2022 to 2024 is given in figure 4.
Quota Confirmation & Guarantee
The referenced ‘WHO End-to-end integration of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza sentinel surveillance: revised interim guidance’ document confirms the PCR quota expected from each NIC lab.
If an official NIC can’t provide enough PCR test results, the WHO will source them from other labs to guarantee the quotas are met:
End-to-end integration is the inclusion of influenza and SARS-CoV-2 into all the components or stages of the surveillance process, from the procedures done at the sentinel site to the eventual sharing of sequence data.
Quality, representativeness, sustainability and country ownership are the guiding principles for end-to-end integration of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza sentinel surveillance.
Integration of SARS-CoV-2 testing and sequencing should occur without compromising influenza surveillance.
WHO severe acute respiratory infection (SARI)/influenza-like illness (ILI) case definitions should be used in integrated surveillance.
At least 50, and ideally 150, specimens, should be tested per week by the National Influenza Center for influenza and SARS-CoV-2 with multiplex real-time reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) assays.
Surveillance should be conducted year-round wherever feasible.
A shortfall of sentinel specimens can be bridged by sourcing from non-sentinel sites with adherence to ILI/ARI/ SARI case definition criteria and representativeness.
Results should be reported separately according to sentinel or non-sentinel surveillance source.
Timely uploads of influenza and SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequence data to publicly accessible databases, such as GISAID, are recommended to ensure completeness of metadata.
Number of Labs & Participating Countries
Another WHO document confirms there are 153 of these NIC labs across 131 countries, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Trump administration has been “actively participating” in WHO bird flu seminars despite the president’s January 2025 executive order to withdraw from the organization.
The admin’s $500 million ‘Generation Gold Standard’ platform is focused on bird flu vaccine development.
Bottom Line
The WHO is formalizing a permanent, worldwide PCR surveillance system that requires tens of thousands of respiratory specimens to be tested every month, regardless of whether disease is present or outbreaks are occurring.
These quotas are enforced at the laboratory level and, if unmet, can be satisfied by sourcing specimens elsewhere to keep testing volume constant.
That approach sits uneasily with long-standing evidence showing PCR positivity often fails to correspond to infectious virus, and with genetic analyses demonstrating substantial overlap between influenza PCR components and human DNA.
Together, the documents suggest future pandemic decisions may again rely on test output and cycle thresholds rather than confirmed infection—raising unresolved questions about scientific validity, data privacy, and how much authority an international body should wield over national public-health determinations.
source jonfleetwood.substack.com