China responds to WHO that it shared information on COVID “without holding anything back”

Beijing insisted on Tuesday that it had shared information on Covid-19 "without holding anything back", after the World Health Organization implored China to offer more data and access to understand the disease's origins, UNN reports citing AFP.

Details

COVID-19, which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2020, has killed millions of people, crippled the economy and overwhelmed healthcare systems.

On Monday, the WHO issued a statement saying that China's provision of additional information is a "moral and scientific imperative.

In response, China defended its transparency, saying it had made the "largest contribution to global origin tracing research".

"Five years ago... China immediately shared epidemic information and viral gene sequence with the WHO and the international community," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

"Without holding anything back, we shared our prevention, control and treatment experience," she told reporters at a regular press briefing.

But during the pandemic, the publication notes, the WHO has repeatedly criticized the Chinese authorities for their lack of transparency and cooperation.

A team of experts led by the WHO and accompanied by Chinese colleagues conducted an investigation into the origin of the pandemic in early 2021.

In a joint report, they supported the hypothesis that the virus was transmitted through intermediate animals from a bat to a human, possibly in the marketplace.

Since then, the team has not been able to return to China, and WHO officials have repeatedly requested additional data.

On Tuesday, Mao said that "growing evidence" indicates "that the origin of COVID-19 is global in scope.

China is "willing to continue to work with various parties to promote global scientific traceability of origin and make active efforts to prevent potential infectious diseases in the future," she said.

This month, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that "the world would still face some of the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities that gave COVID-19 resistance five years ago" if a new pandemic were to emerge today.

"But the world has also learned many painful lessons from the pandemic and taken significant steps to strengthen its defenses against future epidemics and pandemics," he said.

In December 2021, frightened by the devastation caused by COVID, countries decided to start drafting an agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

Will bird flu become a new pandemic? CDC monitors “red flags”Dec 31 2024, 08:28 AM • 22537 views

The 194 WHO member states negotiating the treaty have agreed on most of what it should include, but are stuck on practical issues.

A key fault line is between Western countries with large pharmaceutical sectors and poorer countries that fear being left behind when the next pandemic breaks out.

While there are few unresolved issues, they include the crux of the agreement: a commitment to rapidly share new pathogens and then the pandemic control benefits derived from them, such as vaccines.

The deadline for negotiations is May 2025.