The World Health Organisation (WHO) has affirmed that it will establish the origins of Covid-19. This would be critical to preventing further outbreaks.
This is according to the head of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
He said that critics should stop ‘politicising’ the issue. The WHO has come under sharp criticism for its handling of the outbreak, and for its conduct of the investigation. It has been accused of deferring to the Chinese government on these matters.
While an advance team was sent to China in July, the main investigative team has yet to be dispatched, according to reports.
Tedros rejected suggestions that it had not been transparent and forthcoming about its plans: ‘There is nothing to hide. We want to know the origin. I don’t want to have any confusion on that.’
China has been very sensitive to suggestions that its conduct enabled the virus to spread. The coronavirus has since infected some 63 million people and caused 1.47 million deaths worldwide.
[Picture: Martin Sanchez on Unsplash]