India is reportedly among 62 countries seeking an ‘impartial’ probe into the response by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on coronavirus. The initiative is being led by a group of nations led by Australian and European Union, according to a draft resolution proposed for the 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting starting Monday. Bangladesh, Canada, Russia, Indonesia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Japan. Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Afghanistan are among the 62 countries that have backed the joint effort.
“Initiate, at the earliest appropriate moment, and in consultation with the Member States a stepwise process of impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation, including using existing Mechanisms, as appropriate, to review experience gained and lessons learned from the WHO-coordinated international health response to COVID-19,” the draft states. The draft also calls for an inquiry into the actions by WHO and “their timelines pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In April, Australia became the first nation to push for an impartial inquiry into how the coronavirus started. The global health body WHO has recently been facing criticism from the US on its coronavirus response being “China-centric”.
Meanwhile, 4,804,294 people have been infected by coronavirus globally so far, and the total number of deaths from the disease now stands at 316,703, according to Worldometer.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 3,029 people have died from coronavirus and 36,824 have recovered so far in India.
