World Health Organization (WHO) member states have agreed to set up an independent inquiry into the global response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The resolution, approved without objection by the WHO's 194-member annual assembly meeting virtually in Geneva, also allows for the inquiry to look into the health body's own role.

The United States in particular has been highly critical of its response.

The EU presented the resolution on behalf of 100 nations.

What is in the resolution?
It calls for an "impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation" of the international response.

This will also focus on the WHO's "timelines pertaining to the Covid-19 pandemic". The body has faced criticism that it was late to declare a health emergency.

"As I see no requests for the floor, I take it that there is no objection and the resolution is therefore adopted," declared the assembly's president, Keva Bain, the Bahamas ambassador.

Why is the WHO under pressure?
President Donald Trump has labelled the organisation a "puppet" of China and suspended funding for the WHO. The US is the largest donor.

He has also accused China of trying to cover up the outbreak - something it strongly rejects - and said the WHO had failed to hold Beijing to account.

But he faces re-election this year and critics see his comments as an attempt to deflect blame for his handling of the pandemic in the US, which has the highest number of cases, and deaths, which passed 90,000 on Monday.

But the European Union, along with countries including the UK, Australia and New Zealand, had also been pushing for an inquiry into how the pandemic had been handled.

EU spokeswoman Virginie Battu-Henriksson said on Monday that several key questions needed to be answered as part of any review.

"How did this pandemic spread? What is the epidemiology behind it? All this is absolutely crucial for us going forward to avoid another pandemic of this kind," she said.

But she added that now was not the time for "any sort of blame game".


Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-52726017?iorg_service_id_internal=624173547714020%3BAfpM9UHLbIdVbypJ

It's pay back time.

China must pay for it's crime against humanity

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Mynd44