WHO Urges China to Share COVID-19 Origins Data; China Claims Full Transparency

Dec 31, 2024, 07:30 AM

On the fifth anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic's onset, the World Health Organization (WHO) has renewed its call for China to share data and grant access to understand the origins of the virus, stating that "We continue to call on China to share data and access so we can understand the origins of COVID-19. This is a moral and scientific imperative." China's response was that it has already shared information "without holding anything back" and emphasized that origins tracing should be a global effort. The initial cases of "viral pneumonia" were reported to the WHO by authorities in Wuhan, China, on December 31, 2019, marking the beginning of the pandemic. Since then, COVID-19 has resulted in nearly 7 million deaths worldwide and has had profound impacts on global health systems and economies.