India among 62 countries seeking probe into WHO's COVID-19 response

A total of 62 countries, including India has backed a joint effort by Australia and European Union (EU), calling for an independent inquiry into the WHO’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a draft resolution proposed for 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting beginning today.

The draft calls for an “impartial, independent and comprehensive” probe into the coronavirus crisis including the functioning of international health law and its actions within the greater UN health system.

The resolution has the support of more than half of WHO’s member countries and will be discussed this week at the decision-making body of the UN health agency, being held virtually this year.

The move comes amid Australia’s call for an independent inquiry into the origins of the pandemic and WHO’s response to it after US President Donald Trump’s repeated accusations that WHO helped China cover up the extent of the initial COVID-19 outbreak.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said allowing the WHO to investigate the outbreak “strikes me as a bit poacher and gamekeeper,” ABC reported.

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“This is about collaborating to equip the international community to better prevent or counter the next pandemic and keep our citizens safe,” Payne was quoted as saying by ABC.

However, the motion has not found the mention of China or the city of Wuhan where the outbreak is believed to have started.

Trump has also called for an immediate halt to all US funding to the UN health agency.
The EU resolution proposes that the independent evaluation should be initiated at the earliest appropriate moment and should, among other issues, examine the actions of WHO and their timelines pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic.

WHO announced the coronavirus outbreak to be a global health emergency on January 30, its highest level of alert. In the following weeks, WHO warned countries there was a narrowing window of opportunity to prevent the virus from spreading globally.

WHO officials, however, repeatedly described the transmission of the virus as limited and said it wasn’t as transmissible as flu; experts have since said COVID-19 spreads even faster. It declared the outbreak to be a pandemic on March 11, after the virus had killed thousands globally and sparked large epidemics in South Korea, Italy, Iran and elsewhere.

(With inputs from agencies.)