The World Health Assembly adopted a resolution Tuesday to allow an investigation of the global response to the coronavirus pandemic. The resolution faced no objections from the assembly’s 194 member states.

The EU was among countries and bodies to sponsor the motion at the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual conference to urge an “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” of the international response to the pandemic.

The EU also voiced support for the WHO earlier on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump threatened to cut US funding of the global agency.

“This is the time for solidarity, not the time for finger-pointing or for undermining multilateral cooperation,” European foreign affairs spokeswoman Virginie Batti-Henriksson told reporters on the second day of the World Health Assembly.

The resolution did not immediately adopt a time-frame for the investigation, but WHO chief Tedros told the assembly on Monday he would welcome an independent evaluation at the “earliest appropriate moment.”

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also mentioned the investigation, albeit stressing that the goal should be to identify improvements, not to lay blame.

“Together, we stress the central role of the World Health Organization in international health management,” Maas said in a statement. “It is important to strengthen the WHO, to support it, and to prepare it even better for the future. The resolution underlines that in the current situation acute crisis management is the priority. In a subsequent step, the WHO is planning an independent evaluation of the global response to COVID-19.

Source: citinewsonline.com