The World Health Organization (WHO) called on China to share information on how COVID-19 emerged five years ago.
The coronavirus killed millions of people, locked down billions in their homes, crippled economies and destroyed health systems.
“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,” the WHO said in a statement.
“Without transparency, sharing, and cooperation among countries, the world cannot adequately prevent and prepare for future epidemics and pandemics.”
The WHO recounted how on December 31, 2019, its country office in China picked up a media statement from health authorities in the central city of Wuhan concerning cases of “viral pneumonia”.
“In the weeks, months and years that unfolded after that, COVID-19 came to shape our lives and our world,” the UN health agency said.
“As we mark this milestone, let’s take a moment to honour the lives changed and lost, recognise those who are suffering from COVID-19 and Long COVID, express gratitude to the health workers who sacrificed so much to care for us, and commit to learning from COVID-19 to build a healthier tomorrow.”
Beijing insisted on Tuesday it has shared information on the coronavirus “without holding anything back”.
“Five years ago … China immediately shared epidemic information and viral gene sequence with the WHO and the international community. Without holding anything back, we shared our prevention, control and treatment experience, making a huge contribution to the international community’s pandemic-fighting work,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning said.
‘Painful lessons’
According to the WHO, more than 760 million COVID-19 cases and 6.9 million deaths have been recorded worldwide.
In mid-2023, it declared an end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency but said the disease should be a permanent reminder of the potential for new viruses to emerge with devastating consequences.
Data from the early days of the pandemic was uploaded by Chinese scientists to an international database in early 2023, a few months after China dismantled all its COVID-19 restrictions and reopened its borders to the rest of the world.
The data showed DNA from multiple animal species – including raccoon dogs – was present in environmental samples that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID, suggesting they were “the most likely conduits” of the disease, according to a team of international researchers.
In 2021, a WHO-led team spent weeks in and around Wuhan – where the first cases were detected – and said the virus had probably been transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, but further research was needed.
China has said no more visits were necessary and the search for early cases should be conducted in other countries.
Earlier this month, the WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus addressed the issue of whether the world was better prepared for the next pandemic than it was for COVID-19.
“The answer is yes and no,” he told a press conference. “If the next pandemic arrived today the world would still face some of the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities that gave COVID-19 a foothold five years ago.
“But the world has also learnt many of the painful lessons the pandemic taught us, and has taken significant steps to strengthen its defences against future epidemics and pandemics.”
In December 2021, spooked by the devastation caused by COVID, countries decided to start drafting an accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
The WHO’s 194 member states negotiating the treaty have agreed on most of what it should include, but are stuck on the practicalities.
A key fault line lies between Western nations with major pharmaceutical industry sectors and poorer countries wary of being sidelined when the next pandemic strikes.