Tue Dec 31 17:47:56 UTC 2024: ## China Rejects WHO’s Call for More COVID-19 Data
**Beijing, December 31, 2024** – China has defended its transparency regarding the origins of COVID-19, rejecting the World Health Organization’s (WHO) request for more data and access. Five years after the initial outbreak in Wuhan, the WHO reiterated its call for greater cooperation from China, citing a moral and scientific imperative.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning countered that China had already shared extensively, including epidemic information, viral gene sequences, and prevention and treatment experiences with the WHO and international community. She added that emerging evidence suggests the virus’s origins are global in scope.
However, the WHO has repeatedly criticized China’s transparency throughout the pandemic. A joint investigation in early 2021, while favoring the theory of zoonotic transmission, was unable to fully resolve questions about the virus’s origins, and subsequent requests for additional data have gone unanswered.
The WHO’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, recently warned that the world remains vulnerable to similar pandemics unless global preparedness improves. Negotiations for a new pandemic treaty, aiming to address issues like rapid pathogen sharing and equitable access to pandemic-fighting resources, are ongoing but stalled on key details, particularly regarding obligations to share emerging pathogens and benefits derived from them. The deadline for the treaty is May 2025. The disagreement highlights a divide between Western nations and poorer countries regarding equitable access to resources during future pandemics.
First Piper 