(Video) Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV) The Big Picture: WHO's Report on Origin of COVID-19

Topic: WHO's Report on Origin of COVID-19

Guest:

Dr. Rakesh Aggarwal, (Director, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry)
S. R. Tayal, (Former Ambassador)

Topic Description:

A group of 14 countries has expressed shared concerns over a new report by the World Health Organization into the origin of the Covid-19 outbreak in China. These countries, which include the US, the UK, Japan, Australia and Canada, have cited delays and a lack of full access to data and samples, as well as a lack of cooperation and transparency from China, calling for an independent analysis and evaluation of the pandemic, which is free from interference and undue influence. Although they did not directly reject the report, and said they remained committed to working with the World Health Organization. The report of the team of WHO experts which visited the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus was first reported in December 2019, was published on Tuesday. As per the report, it is extremely unlikely that the virus escaped from a laboratory in China, instead it suggests that the deadly virus jumped from bats to other animals to humans.