Geneva: The World Health Organization on Monday implored China to share data and access to help understand how Covid-19 began, five years on from the start of the pandemic that upended the planet.
Covid-19 has killed millions of people, destroyed economies and paralyzed systems.
“We continue to ask China to improve its knowledge so that we can understand the origins of Covid-19. “This is an ethical and clinical imperative,” the WHO said in a statement.
“Without transparency, exchange and cooperation between countries, the world will adequately save and prepare for epidemics and pandemics in the long term. “
The WHO recounted how on December 31, 2019, its local office in China won a lawsuit from the health government in Wuhan due to cases of “viral pneumonia” in the city.
“In the weeks, months and years that unfolded after that, Covid-19 came to shape our lives and our world,” the UN health agency said.
“As we mark this milestone, let’s take a moment to honor the lives replaced and lost, recognize those suffering from Covid-19 and Long Covid, express our gratitude to the fitness staff who have sacrificed so much to care for us, and dedicate ourselves to learning from Covid-19 to build a more fitness future.
“The same weaknesses”
Earlier this month, the WHO’s Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus addressed the issue of whether the world was better prepared for the next pandemic than it was for Covid-19.
“The answer is yes, and no,” he told a press conference.
“If the next pandemic occurred now, the world would still face the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities that allowed Covid-19 to take hold five years ago.
“But the world has also learnt many of the painful lessons the pandemic taught us, and has taken significant steps to strengthen its defences against future epidemics and pandemics.”
A key fault line is between Western countries with gigantic pharmaceutical sectors and poorer countries that worry about being left behind when the next pandemic hits.
Although the notable problems are few, they come with the core of the agreement: the legal responsibility of the temporary percentage of emerging pathogens, and then the resulting benefits in the fight against the pandemic, such as vaccines.
The deadline for the negotiations is May 2025.
Check all issues & supplements