WHO urges US to share Covid origins intel

GENEVA:

The World Health Organization on Wednesday urged Washington to share any intelligence it may be withholding on the Covid-19 pandemic's origins, despite the United States quitting the WHO.

The global catastrophe killed an estimated 20 million people, according to the UN health agency, while shredding economies, crippling health systems and turning people's lives upside-down.

The first cases were detected in Wuhan in China in late 2019, and understanding where the SARS-CoV-2 virus came from is seen as key to preventing future pandemics.

On his first day back in office in January 2025, US President Donald Trump handed the WHO his country's one-year withdrawal notice, which cited "the organisation's mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic".

Trump's administration has officially embraced the theory that the virus leaked from a virology laboratory in Wuhan.