China to be held accountable at World Health Assembly amid Coronavirus crisis: Sources

While the world grips with the onslaught of novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), sources have reported on Sunday, that the World Health Organisation (WHO) is likely to hold China accountable for its delay in informing the world about Coronavirus. Sources state that the WHO's World Health Assembly which will meet on Monday is considering a resolution of its 65 member nations to ascertain the origins of the pandemic virus. Moreover, WHO Chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus's performance is going to be reviewed, report sources.

WHA to review WHO's response

Sources report that the Health Assembly (of which India is a party) will draft a resolution with two aims - 

• To review the actions of WHO and their timelines pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic, recommendations, pandemic prevention etc 
• To identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population. 

The draft resolution included member nations like Albania, Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bhutan, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Mozambique, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, San Marino, Sierra Leone, South Africa, the European Union and its Member States, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Zambia.

Moreover, the WHO-led investigation will reportedly probe the possible role of intermediate hosts to reduce the risk of similar events. It will also provide guidance on how to prevent SARS-COV2 infection in animals and humans and prevent the establishment of new zoonotic reservoirs, say sources.

What is the WHA 2020?

The WHA is the World Health Organization (WHO)’s plenary body whose member states approve the organization’s budget, fill vacancies in its executive board, and vote on agenda items, as per reports. The two-day meeting will address a resolution, proposed by the EU to jointly develop affordable diagnostics, medicines, and vaccines for Covid-19. The Assembly is also set to vote on whether Taiwan should be invited to join as a WHO member amid its excellent COVID-19 response, in spite of China's strong opposition as it claims Taiwan as its territory- under the one-China policy.

The Coronavirus crisis

First detected in Wuhan in December 2019, COVID-19- the novel coronavirus has affected nearly 160 countries in the world. As there is no vaccine or specific antiviral medicine to deal to treat COVID-19, countries have been grappling with all possible mechanisms to contain its scope. So far, China, South Korea, Italy, Spain, Iran, US, France, UK, India have witnessed the most number of confirmed cases.  With the US as the 'epicentre', Coronavirus has 4,745,453 cases globally with 313,747 deaths.