![People gather at Rome's Piazza di Spagna in March](/content/images/size/w1304/2022/10/piazza-di-spagna-rome-italy.jpg)
WHO chief urges treaty and 'lot of work'
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus closed out the World Health Assembly with a warning against complacency and an appeal for a global pandemic treaty.
Already have an account? Log in
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus closed out the World Health Assembly with a warning against complacency and an appeal for a global pandemic treaty.
The coronavirus was likely transmitted initially from bats to humans through another animal and not from an accident in a Chinese lab, scientists reported.
Twenty five nations joined with the European Council and World Health Organization in making an "urgent call" for creation of an international pandemic treaty.
An expert panel faulted WHO along with China and other nations in a report that found numerous "lost opportunities" to try to head off the pandemic.
Under U.S. pressure, the World Health Assembly unanimously approved a resolution calling for a review of WHO's pandemic response.
WHO's decision-making body included it as a medical condition in a diagnostic manual for classifying diseases.
Delegates to the global decision-making body will tackle ways to strengthen emergency response and restructure the agency.