The World Health Organization (WHO) called on China to share information on how COVID-19 emerged five years ago.
The coronavirus has killed millions of people, locked billions in their homes, paralyzed economies and destroyed systems.
“We continue to call on China to improve its knowledge so that we can perceive the origins of COVID-19. This is an ethical and clinical imperative,” the WHO said in a statement.
“Without transparency, sharing, and cooperation among countries, the world cannot adequately prevent and prepare for future epidemics and pandemics.”
The WHO recounted how on December 31, 2019, its country office in China picked up a media statement from health authorities in the central city of Wuhan concerning cases of “viral pneumonia”.
“In the weeks, months and years since, COVID-19 has taken over our lives and our world,” the UN fitness company said.
“As we commemorate this milestone, let us 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 themselves to learning from COVID-19 to build a more fit future.
Beijing hoped on Tuesday to have shared about the coronavirus “without hiding anything. “
“Five years ago… China promptly shared data on the outbreak and viral gene pool with the WHO and the foreign community. Without holding anything back, we share our passion for prevention and treatment, making a huge contribution to the anti-pandemic work of the foreign community,” said Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. foreign.
According to the WHO, more than 760 million COVID-19 cases and 6. 9 million deaths have been recorded worldwide.
In mid-2023, he declared the end of COVID-19 a public health emergency, but said the disease would be a permanent reminder of the possibility of new viruses emerging with devastating consequences.
Data from the early days of the pandemic was uploaded via Chinese scientists to a foreign database in early 2023, months after China dismantled all its COVID-19 restrictions and reopened its borders to the rest of the world.
The data showed that DNA from several animal species, including raccoon dogs, appeared in environmental samples that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID, suggesting they were “most likely conduits” for the virus. disease, according to a study. report. team of foreign researchers.
In 2021, a WHO-led team spent weeks in and around Wuhan, where the first cases were detected, and said the virus was most likely transmitted from bats to humans via “another animal,” but that additional studies were needed.
China said no further visits were necessary and that the search for the first instances would be carried out in other countries.
Earlier this month, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus addressed the question of whether the world is better prepared for the next pandemic than for COVID-19.
“The answer is yes and no,” he told a press conference. “If the next pandemic arrived today the world would still face some of the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities that gave COVID-19 a foothold five years ago.
“But the world has also learned many of the painful lessons that the pandemic has taught us and has taken vital steps to defend itself against epidemics and pandemics in the long term. “
In December 2021, frightened by the devastation caused by COVID, countries began drafting an agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
The WHO’s 194 member states negotiating the treaty have agreed on the maximum of what it includes, but they remain deadlocked on practicalities.
A key fault line lies between Western nations with major pharmaceutical industry sectors and poorer countries wary of being sidelined when the next pandemic strikes.