ReutersThe World Health Organization has urged China to share data on the origins of the Covid pandemic, five years after it began in the city of Wuhan.
“This is a moral and scientific imperative,” the WHO said in a statement marking what it called the “milestone” anniversary.
“Without transparency, sharing and cooperation between countries, the world cannot adequately prevent and prepare for future epidemics and pandemics,” he adds.
Many scientists believe the virus spread naturally from animals to humans, but some suspicions persist that it escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan.
China did not respond to the WHO statement on Monday. In the past, she has strongly rejected the lab leak theory.
In September, a team of scientists said it was “beyond reasonable doubt” that the Covid pandemic started with infected animals sold at a marketrather than a lab leak.
They came to this conclusion after analyzing hundreds of samples collected in Wuhan in January 2020.
In its statement, the WHO returned to the early days of Covid and traced its evolution from a local phenomenon to a global scourge, leading to worldwide lockdowns and the ultimately successful race to develop vaccines.
“Five years ago, on December 31, 2019, the WHO China country office retrieved from its website a media statement from the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission regarding cases of “viral pneumonia” in Wuhan , in China,” the organization said.
“In the weeks, months and years that followed, Covid-19 shaped our lives and our world,” he continues.
The WHO said it “went to work immediately” as 2020 dawned. It recalled how its workers activated emergency systems on January 1 and informed the world three days later .
“By January 9-12, WHO had published its first set of comprehensive guidelines for countries, and on January 13, we brought together partners to publish the plan for the first Sars-CoV-2 laboratory test “, adds the press release.
The WHO said it wanted to “honor the lives changed and lost, recognize those suffering from Covid-19 and long Covid, express gratitude to health workers who have sacrificed so much to care for us and commit to pulling the stops lessons from Covid-19”. to build a healthier future.
In May 2023, the WHO stated that Covid-19 no longer represents a “global health emergency”.
Its director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at the time that at least seven million people had died due to the pandemic.
But he added that the real figure was “probably” closer to 20 million deaths, almost three times the official estimate.
Since then, the WHO has repeatedly warned against complacency in the face of the possible emergence of future Covid-like illnesses.
Dr Ghebreyesus said the next pandemic “could happen at any time” and urged the world to prepare.