3 years ago, WHO first used the term “pandemic” to describe the global outbreak of COVID-19. (file)
Geneva:
The head of the World Health Organization has said that the search for the origin of COVID-19 is a moral imperative and all hypotheses must be explored.
A US agency’s assessment of the pandemic was caused by an inadvertent Chinese laboratory leak was reported by the Wall Street Journal, increasing pressure on the WHO to respond. Beijing denies the assessment.
“Understanding the origins of #COVID19 and exploring all hypotheses: a scientific imperative, to help us prevent future outbreaks (and) a moral imperative, for the sake of the millions who died and those who People live with #LongCOVID,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter.
He was writing to mark the three years since the WHO first used the term “pandemic” to describe the global outbreak of COVID-19.
Activists, politicians and academics said in an open letter this weekend that the focus of the anniversary should be on preventing a repeat of the uneven COVID-19 vaccine rollout, which led to at least 1.3 million preventable deaths.
In 2021, a WHO-led team spent weeks in and around Wuhan, China, where the first human cases were reported, and a joint report said the virus probably passed from bats to humans through another animal. was transmitted, but further research was needed. China has said that there is no need for more visits.
Since then, the WHO has set up a scientific advisory group on dangerous pathogens, but it has yet to reach any conclusions on how the pandemic began, saying key pieces of data are missing.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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