“Without hiding anything, we share our experience of prevention, management and treatment,” he told reporters at a regular press conference.
But over the course of the pandemic, the WHO repeatedly criticized Chinese authorities for their lack of transparency and cooperation.
A team of specialists led by the WHO and accompanied by Chinese colleagues investigated the origins of the pandemic in early 2021.
In a joint report, they supported the hypothesis that the virus had been transmitted by an intermediary animal, from a bat to a human, possibly in a market.
Since then, one team has been unable to return to China and WHO officials have repeatedly requested additional data.
Mao said Tuesday that “more and more clues” pointed “that the origins of Covid-19 have a global reach.”
China was “willing to continue working with various parties to promote scientific origin tracing globally and make active efforts to prevent potential infectious diseases in the future,” he said.
Preparedness for a pandemic
This month, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “the world would still face some of the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities that gave Covid-19 a foothold five years ago” if a new pandemic emerged today. .
“But the world has also learned many of the painful lessons that the pandemic taught us and has taken important steps to strengthen its defenses against future epidemics and pandemics,” he said.
In December 2021, frightened by the devastation caused by Covid, countries decided to start drafting an agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
The 194 WHO member states negotiating the treaty have agreed on most of what it should include, but are deadlocked on practicalities.
A key fault line lies between Western nations with major pharmaceutical industry sectors and poorer countries that fear being sidelined when the next pandemic hits.
While the outstanding issues are few, they include the heart of the agreement: the obligation to quickly share emerging pathogens and then the benefits derived from them to combat the pandemic, such as vaccines.
The deadline for negotiations is May 2025.
– France-Presse Agency
