ReutersThe World Health Organization has called on 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 to mark what it called a “milestone” anniversary.
“Without transparency, sharing and cooperation between countries, the world cannot adequately prevent and prepare for future epidemics and pandemics,” it added.
Many scientists believe that the virus was transferred naturally from animals to humans, but some suspicions remain that it escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan.
China has not responded to the WHO statement since Monday. In the past, she has strongly rejected the lab leak theory.
In September, a team of scientists said it was “beyond reasonable doubt”. The Covid pandemic started with infected animals being sold in a marketnot a lab leak.
They came to this conclusion after analyzing hundreds of samples collected from Wuhan in January 2020.
In its statement, the WHO went back 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 office took a media statement by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission from their website regarding cases of 'viral pneumonia' in Wuhan, China,” the organization said.
“In the weeks, months and years that followed, Covid-19 began to shape our lives and our world,” he continues.
The WHO said it “worked immediately” as 2020 rolled around. He recalled how his staff activated emergency systems on January 1 and informed the world three days later.
“By 9-12 January, WHO published its first set of comprehensive guidelines for countries, and on 13 January we brought together partners to publish the plan for the first Sars-CoV-2 laboratory test,” it added.
The WHO said it wanted to “honour the lives changed and lost, recognize those suffering from Covid-19 and prolonged Covid, express gratitude to the health workers who have sacrificed so much to care for us, and to committed to learning from Covid-19 to build a healthier tomorrow”.
In May 2023 The WHO announced this Covid-19 is no longer a 'global health emergency'.
Its director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at the time that at least seven million people had died in the pandemic.
But he added that the true figure was “probably” closer to 20 million deaths – almost three times the official estimate.
Since then, the WHO has repeatedly warned against complacency about the possible emergence of future Covid-like diseases.
Dr Ghebreyesus said the next pandemic “could come at any moment” and urged the world to be prepared.