The Japan Times - WHO urges US to share Covid origins intel

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.

But the WHO said Washington did not hand over any Covid origins intelligence before marching out the organisation's door.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recalled that some countries have publicly said "they have intelligence about the origins -- especially the US".

Therefore, several months ago, the UN health agency wrote to senior officials in the United States, urging them to "share any intelligence information that they have", he told a press conference on Wednesday.

"We haven't received any information," Tedros lamented.

"We hope they will share, because we haven't still concluded the Covid origins," and "knowing what happened could help us to prevent the next" pandemic.

The WHO's investigations have proved inconclusive, pending further evidence, with all hypotheses still on the table.

Tedros asked any government which had intelligence on the Covid-19 pandemic's origins to share the information so that the WHO will be able to reach a conclusion.

- Critical information 'obstructed' -

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's epidemic and pandemic threat management chief, said: "We continue to follow up with all governments that have said that they have intelligence reports, the US included.

"We don't have those reports to date," she said, other than those in the public domain.

As the US notice countdown expired on January 22, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the WHO had "obstructed the timely and accurate sharing of critical information that could have saved American lives".

They also claimed the WHO had "tarnished and trashed everything that America has done for it".

"The reverse is true," the WHO said in reply.

The WHO constitution does not include a withdrawal clause.

But the United States reserved the right to withdraw when it joined the WHO in 1948 -- on condition of giving one year's notice and meeting its financial obligations in full for that fiscal year.

The notice period has now expired but Washington has still not paid its 2024 or 2025 dues, owing around $260 million, according to data published by the WHO.

T.Ueda--JT