A global “pandemic treaty” is proposed amid China’s mistrust

LONDON – A global “pandemic treaty” has been proposed to ensure more transparency about future pandemics amid unease over China’s reluctance to share information about the coronavirus outbreak.

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, is among those calling for an international pandemic treaty that would allow countries to agree to share data on virus outbreaks and infectious diseases.

Johnson backed the proposal Monday after the United Kingdom and the United States expressed concern over the level of access provided to a World Health Organization mission to China to find out the origins. of the coronavirus that first appeared in Wuhan in late 2019.

“I think what the world needs to see is a general agreement on how we track the data surrounding zoonotic pandemics, we want zoonotic research centers around the world, and we want a general agreement on transparency,” Johnson said at a conference press.

“I think one of the attractive ideas we’ve seen in recent months has been the proposal for a global pandemic treaty, so that signatory countries make sure they provide all the data they have and we’re able to reach the fund what has happened and let it happen again, ”he said. He is “the most sensible.”

Johnson is not the first to call for more transparency around disease outbreaks. In December, European Council President Charles Michel called for “an international treaty on pandemics within the framework of the WHO”.

“The number of epidemics has multiplied in recent decades,” Michel said at the time. “We knew the world was not immune to a major pandemic. Still, we were caught unawares. This is a form of failure and we will have to learn the lessons and draw conclusions.” He tweeted about it last week and received comments from Johnson this week.

Fears of transparency over the pandemics stem amid concerns that the WHO research mission could not go to China until last month, more than a year after the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan and only after lengthy negotiations with Beijing to allow him to investigate. The researchers did not have full access to data that could help them better understand the origins of Covid-19.

After four weeks of research, the WHO mission said last week that the virus “most likely” originated in animals and spread to humans and dismissed a theory of laboratory leaks. A member of the WHO delegation has since said that China refused to give them access to all the raw data they had requested. Dominic Dwyer, an Australian infectious disease expert and member of the WHO delegation, told Reuters on Saturday that China had refused access to the requested raw data on early infections.

China’s rejection was also reported by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. The country’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters, but China has already defended its cooperation with the WHO.

The United Kingdom and the United States expressed what the White House called “deep concerns” about how the findings of the WHO Covid-19 report were communicated.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement on Saturday that it is imperative that the WHO report be independent and free of “changes by the Chinese government.”

“To better understand this pandemic and prepare for the next, China must make its data available in the early days of the outbreak. In the future, all countries, including China, should be involved in a process. transparent and robust to prevent and respond to health emergencies – so that the world learns as soon as possible, ”he said.

UK Secretary of State Dominic Raab echoed those sentiments on Sunday and told the BBC that Britain shares “the concern that they have full co-operation and get the answers they need, so that we will be pushing for full access. “

The spokesman added that “tracing of origin is a complex scientific issue involving many countries and regions, and should be carried out by global scientists in collaboration.” He said the Chinese government “has provided strong support and assistance to the WHO mission.”

On Monday, the British prime minister said he believed it was “quite obvious that most of the evidence seems to point to the disease originating in Wuhan.”

“So I think we all need to see everything we can about how this could have happened, the zoonotic questions people are asking. I think we need as much data as possible,” Johnson said.

The UK currently holds the presidency of the Group of Seven, an intergovernmental organization that includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, and looks set to use a meeting on Friday to push for a treaty.

The British government said in a statement on Saturday that Johnson “will call for a new global approach to pandemics that learns lessons from the division that characterized the initial international response to the coronavirus pandemic.”

“Preparing for the international pandemic will be a top priority for the UK G7 presidency,” he said, and Johnson would look to work with other G-7 leaders to implement a five-point plan that goes announced at the UN General Assembly last year.

“The five-point plan includes a global network of zoonotic research centers, the development of global manufacturing capacity for treatments and vaccines, the design of a global pandemic early warning system, the global protocol agreement for to a future health emergency and the reduction of trade barriers. “