Streets were emptied, parks were vacant and prayer grounds silent as the new coronavirus outbreak turned this year's Eid al-Fitr into a solemn and muted celebration in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan: Eid festivities banned to contain COVID-19 outbreak

The French envoy to India Emmanuel Lenain has said India and France have increased cooperation at the current times of COVID crisis and both are with both "are friends in happy times, and in rough times". Speaking to our Principal Diplomatic Correspondent Sidhant Sibal, ambassador Emmanuel Lenain said, both "have been supporting each other" and "India has been exemplary in providing drugs, medical equipment when needed". Meanwhile, French development agency AFD is working to provide a special loan of 200 million euro to finance and support some health programmes in India.

Exclusive: French envoy to India Emmanuel Lenain speaks to WION

For centuries the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara temple in India's capital city has served free meals to people from all religions, keeping in line with the Sikh tradition of service. Bangla Sahib is the largest of New Delhi's 10 gurdwaras, whose kitchens together form a vital part of the city's strategy to feed the poor during the pandemic.

Sikh gurdwara in Delhi feeds the poor amid virus

As the coronavirus has spread rapidly in the poorest parts of the Amazon's biggest city, a local priest has begun to make masks in his church and hand them out across his parish.

Catholic priest gives out masks in coronavirus-stricken Amazon favela

The Ascension Day public holiday in Germany is better known for also being Father's Day and the tradition of men pals getting together to go walkabout and drink beer. This year coronavirus has put a stop to this as well and many of the usual festivities have been cancelled or significantly downsized.

Germans make a splash on Father's Day in spite of coronavirus

UK to continue traditional methods for handling virus as there is technical snag in NHS tracing app. Watch this video to know more.

Fineprint: UK to continue traditional methods for handling virus

Kabul residents ventured out to a street bazaar on Friday (May 22) to buy sweets and dried fruit ahead of Eid al-Fitr, defying a lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Afghans defy lockdown ahead of Eid al-Fitr celebrations

A 37-year old Thai street artist is splashing walls across Bangkok with murals depicting the nobel fight against coronavirus.

"Keeping the virus at bay!" : Thai street artist sprays city with battles against coronavirus murals

Next to some lavish diamond necklaces at an Amman jewellery store, an unusually shaped pendant is on display. Spiky and emerald green, the necklace was inspired by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Jordanian jewellers design 'viral' pendants

The Riviera resort of Cannes should have been playing host to the world's biggest names in film. Instead, with its annual film festival postponed and the red carpet rolled up, locals made do with a drive-in cinema in a beachfront car park.

Popcorn, palm trees and face masks: Cannes rolls out drive-in cinema

U.S. President Donald Trump became tongue tied as he tried to convey the negative results of his latest test for COVID-19 on Thursday (May 21).

Donald Trump says he tested 'positively toward negative' on latest coronavirus test

By&nbsp;M Raja Chidambaram

There are no more pressing deadlines&nbsp; 
All around only deaths in the headlines&nbsp; 
No phrases like - have homes to go 
Subtle joys of home now in the know&nbsp;

Soaring sales curves not in thought 
The flattened spread is what is sought&nbsp; 
The bottom line now welcomed to give&nbsp; 
A symbol not positive but negative

Homing in, we work, eat, play and pray 
No dumps, no leaks, no smoke in the fray 
These events that emerge illuminate&nbsp; 
Acts of duplicity, we need to eliminate

Marketplace calls products that are same 
By different names, yes that is the game 
The arena brimming with false effervescence&nbsp; 
Promotions to induce cognitive dissonance

Packing the truth in many layers to beguile &nbsp; 
Making it difficult to be simple, all the while.&nbsp; 
Time to redefine economy as a means for life &nbsp; 
There is a higher purpose for us all to strive

Though now in fetters, goes on the act. 
Not difficult to be simple, the now learnt fact. 
Needs this planet as the collective soul&nbsp; 
Needs a New Economic Way, a new goal:

No more artificial demand no artificial supply 
Is the value is added when you divide to multiply?&nbsp; 
Value addition is real only with additionality&nbsp; 
Worth is not in packaging but in functionality.&nbsp;

Satisfying the real needs in simplicity 
Not satiating more wants in duplicity 
May the means of living be meaningful 
And the mission of our enterprise be purposeful

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

By M Raja Chidambaram There are no more pressing deadlines All around only deaths in the headlines No phrases like - have homes to go Subtle joys of home now in the know Soaring sales curves not in thought The flattened spread is what is sought The bottom line now welcomed to give A symbol not positive but negative Homing in, we work, eat, play and pray No dumps, no leaks, no smoke in the fray These events that emerge illuminate Acts of duplicity, we need to eliminate Marketplace calls products that are same By different names, yes that is the game The arena brimming with false effervescence Promotions to induce cognitive dissonance Packing the truth in many layers to beguile Making it difficult to be simple, all the while.

By M Raja Chidambaram There are no more pressing deadlines All around only deaths in the headlines No phrases like - have homes to go Subtle joys of home now in the know Soaring sales curves not in thought The flattened spread is what is sought The bottom line now welcomed to give A symbol not positive but negative Homing in, we work, eat, play and pray No dumps, no leaks, no smoke in the fray These events that emerge illuminate Acts of duplicity, we need to eliminate Marketplace calls products that are same By different names, yes that is the game The arena brimming with false effervescence Promotions to induce cognitive dissonance Packing the truth in many layers to beguile Making it difficult to be simple, all the while. Time to redefine economy as a means for life There is a higher purpose for us all to strive Though now in fetters, goes on the act. Not difficult to be simple, the now learnt fact. Needs this planet as the collective soul Needs a New Economic Way, a new goal: No more artificial demand no artificial supply Is the value is added when you divide to multiply? Value addition is real only with additionality Worth is not in packaging but in functionality. Satisfying the real needs in simplicity Not satiating more wants in duplicity May the means of living be meaningful And the mission of our enterprise be purposeful (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Coronavirus mayhem: There is a higher purpose for us all to strive

There is ongoing censorship, even in the scientific literature, to restrict publication of information contrary to the accepted narrative that COVID-19 is naturally-occurring.

What follows is not an analysis of motivations or an indictment meant to assign blame, but a history of scientific investigation that eventually led to COVID-19.

A recent <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01449-8">news article </a>published in the scientific journal Nature noted, that while it is important to find the origin of COVID-19 to prevent reinfection, it has been difficult pinpointing the source.

“It is quite possible we won’t find it. In fact, it would be exceptionally lucky if we land on something,” said Lucy van Dorp, a geneticist from University College London.

It may indeed be impossible to identify a natural source, if COVID-19 was the product of bioengineering.

Although there are hundreds of scientific publications on coronavirus, a few relevant to the present discussion will be highlighted.

Coronavirus research did not begin with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS, SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1) epidemic of 2002-2004, but it was certainly accelerated by it.

Additional impetus for studying coronaviruses arose after the 2012 outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS or MERS-CoV).

Much of the scientific inquiry related to those two diseases has centered on a particular component of coronaviruses called the spike glycoprotein, which carries the ability for the virus to attach itself to a human cell and gain entry.

Obviously, understanding and interfering with the processes initiated by the spike glycoprotein could have prophylactic or therapeutic value.

Most of that research effort focused on the cascade of events regulated by the protein part of the spike glycoprotein, or S-protein, which has two sections, S1, primarily responsible for binding to the human cell and S2, driving fusion with the cell membrane and entry.

The S1 section contains a sequence of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, called the receptor binding domain (RBD), which defines the coronavirus’ ability to bind to specific receptors, whether they be human or animal.

Sequence mutations occur frequently in coronaviruses, which can, gradually over time, produce a new RBD structure capable of transmission between different animals or between animals and humans.

That has been the consensus scientific opinion both for SARS and MERS, that it may have originated in bats, traveled through an intermediate animal host, civets and camels, respectively, and, along the way, acquired the ability to infect humans.

If such a contention is scientifically valid, then it is initially logical to presume that COVID-19 “jumped” from animals to humans in a similar fashion.

That notion was not lost on investigators of the initial SARS epidemic, who focused on the RBD within the S1 section of the spike glycoprotein in order to understand better the origin of the outbreak.

In 2003, the human attachment point for the SARS RBD was <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature02145">found</a> to be the receptor for angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2), present in the lungs, kidneys, intestines and blood vessels.

As stated earlier, SARS may have originated in a bat population, but it was not the direct source.

In a 2008 <a href="https://jvi.asm.org/content/82/4/1899.full">bioengineering study </a>designed to elucidate the origin of SARS, scientists “spliced” the SARS RBD onto a non-human-infecting bat coronavirus, thereby, producing a new viral entity of bat origin capable of infecting humans.

In a 2014 <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/111/34/12516.full">publication subsequent</a> to the 2012 MERS outbreak “to understand how bat coronaviruses transmit to humans,” scientists discovered that not only was S1 binding important for human infection, but a “cleavage” or slicing of the S protein at the S1/S2 junction was an important event in the S2-mediated membrane fusion and cell entry process.

That is, the cascade of receptor binding, cleavage and membrane fusion determined by the structure of S protein are important factors regulating human transmissibility and pathogenesis.

It is now known that COVID-19, like SARS, uses ACE2 as its receptor and has a cleavage site at the S1/S2 junction.

According to the present conventional wisdom, a COVID-19 precursor, while circulating in a bat population mutated, acquiring the ability to infect humans, perhaps through an intermediate host, which was then transmitted to people either visiting or working in the Wuhan Seafood Market.

That conclusion is not as scientifically solid as some would like you to believe.

It was already known by the end of January 2020, that the initial patients hospitalized between December 1-10, 2019<a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30183-5/fulltext"> had not visited </a>the market and bats were <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7079563/">not sold </a>there.

The Nature article, “The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2,” widely cited to support the theory that COVID-19 is naturally-occurring also raises some not so widely cited doubts:

“Given the similarity of SARS-CoV-2 to bat SARS-CoV-like coronaviruses, it is likely that bats serve as reservoir hosts for its progenitor. Although RaTG13, sampled from a Rhinolophus affinis bat, is about 96% identical overall to SARS-CoV-2, its spike diverges in the RBD, which suggests that it may not bind efficiently to human ACE2.”

In fact, COVID-19’s RBD is nearly identical to that of pangolins (scaly anteater), not bats, but pangolins have been <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1008421">ruled out</a> as the intermediate host for COVID-19.

One could be forgiven for concluding that COVID-19 has a bat structural “backbone,” but a pangolin-like RBD, something so far inexplicable according to the naturally-occurring theory.

Furthermore, COVID-19’s S1/S2 furin polybasic cleavage site, a distinctive feature widely known for its ability to enhance <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6832359/">pathogenicity</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12250-020-00212-7">transmissibility</a> in coronaviruses, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1097276520302641#bib38">does not appear</a> in any of 45 bat, 5 human SARS, 2 civet, 1 pangolin and 1 racoon dog coronaviruses, that have S1/S2 junction structures otherwise identical or nearly identical to COVID-19.

That same<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1097276520302641#bib38"> study </a>noting the absence of the S1/S2 cleavage site in other related coronaviruses compared to COVID-19 also clearly describes the techniques for inserting cleavage sites artificially.

The fact that no natural source of COVID-19 has been identified, that scientific evidence exists suggesting bioengineering and the clear ability to do so, all demand an expanded investigation as to its origin.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)&nbsp;

There is ongoing censorship, even in the scientific literature, to restrict publication of information contrary to the accepted narrative that COVID-19 is naturally-occurring.

There is ongoing censorship, even in the scientific literature, to restrict publication of information contrary to the accepted narrative that COVID-19 is naturally-occurring. What follows is not an analysis of motivations or an indictment meant to assign blame, but a history of scientific investigation that eventually led to COVID-19. A recent news article published in the scientific journal Nature noted, that while it is important to find the origin of COVID-19 to prevent reinfection, it has been difficult pinpointing the source. “It is quite possible we won’t find it. In fact, it would be exceptionally lucky if we land on something,” said Lucy van Dorp, a geneticist from University College London. It may indeed be impossible to identify a natural source, if COVID-19 was the product of bioengineering. Although there are hundreds of scientific publications on coronavirus, a few relevant to the present discussion will be highlighted. Coronavirus research did not begin with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS, SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1) epidemic of 2002-2004, but it was certainly accelerated by it. Additional impetus for studying coronaviruses arose after the 2012 outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS or MERS-CoV). Much of the scientific inquiry related to those two diseases has centered on a particular component of coronaviruses called the spike glycoprotein, which carries the ability for the virus to attach itself to a human cell and gain entry. Obviously, understanding and interfering with the processes initiated by the spike glycoprotein could have prophylactic or therapeutic value. Most of that research effort focused on the cascade of events regulated by the protein part of the spike glycoprotein, or S-protein, which has two sections, S1, primarily responsible for binding to the human cell and S2, driving fusion with the cell membrane and entry. The S1 section contains a sequence of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, called the receptor binding domain (RBD), which defines the coronavirus’ ability to bind to specific receptors, whether they be human or animal. Sequence mutations occur frequently in coronaviruses, which can, gradually over time, produce a new RBD structure capable of transmission between different animals or between animals and humans. That has been the consensus scientific opinion both for SARS and MERS, that it may have originated in bats, traveled through an intermediate animal host, civets and camels, respectively, and, along the way, acquired the ability to infect humans. If such a contention is scientifically valid, then it is initially logical to presume that COVID-19 “jumped” from animals to humans in a similar fashion. That notion was not lost on investigators of the initial SARS epidemic, who focused on the RBD within the S1 section of the spike glycoprotein in order to understand better the origin of the outbreak. In 2003, the human attachment point for the SARS RBD was found to be the receptor for angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2), present in the lungs, kidneys, intestines and blood vessels. As stated earlier, SARS may have originated in a bat population, but it was not the direct source. In a 2008 bioengineering study designed to elucidate the origin of SARS, scientists “spliced” the SARS RBD onto a non-human-infecting bat coronavirus, thereby, producing a new viral entity of bat origin capable of infecting humans. In a 2014 publication subsequent to the 2012 MERS outbreak “to understand how bat coronaviruses transmit to humans,” scientists discovered that not only was S1 binding important for human infection, but a “cleavage” or slicing of the S protein at the S1/S2 junction was an important event in the S2-mediated membrane fusion and cell entry process. That is, the cascade of receptor binding, cleavage and membrane fusion determined by the structure of S protein are important factors regulating human transmissibility and pathogenesis. It is now known that COVID-19, like SARS, uses ACE2 as its receptor and has a cleavage site at the S1/S2 junction. According to the present conventional wisdom, a COVID-19 precursor, while circulating in a bat population mutated, acquiring the ability to infect humans, perhaps through an intermediate host, which was then transmitted to people either visiting or working in the Wuhan Seafood Market. That conclusion is not as scientifically solid as some would like you to believe. It was already known by the end of January 2020, that the initial patients hospitalized between December 1-10, 2019 had not visited the market and bats were not sold there. The Nature article, “The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2,” widely cited to support the theory that COVID-19 is naturally-occurring also raises some not so widely cited doubts: “Given the similarity of SARS-CoV-2 to bat SARS-CoV-like coronaviruses, it is likely that bats serve as reservoir hosts for its progenitor. Although RaTG13, sampled from a Rhinolophus affinis bat, is about 96% identical overall to SARS-CoV-2, its spike diverges in the RBD, which suggests that it may not bind efficiently to human ACE2.” In fact, COVID-19’s RBD is nearly identical to that of pangolins (scaly anteater), not bats, but pangolins have been ruled out as the intermediate host for COVID-19. One could be forgiven for concluding that COVID-19 has a bat structural “backbone,” but a pangolin-like RBD, something so far inexplicable according to the naturally-occurring theory. Furthermore, COVID-19’s S1/S2 furin polybasic cleavage site, a distinctive feature widely known for its ability to enhance pathogenicity and transmissibility in coronaviruses, does not appear in any of 45 bat, 5 human SARS, 2 civet, 1 pangolin and 1 racoon dog coronaviruses, that have S1/S2 junction structures otherwise identical or nearly identical to COVID-19. That same study noting the absence of the S1/S2 cleavage site in other related coronaviruses compared to COVID-19 also clearly describes the techniques for inserting cleavage sites artificially. The fact that no natural source of COVID-19 has been identified, that scientific evidence exists suggesting bioengineering and the clear ability to do so, all demand an expanded investigation as to its origin. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

How COVID-19 was made

South Korea has reopened schools for High School seniors. Meanwhile, Russia has recorded its biggest spike in death toll. WION's Executive Editor Palki Sharma Upadhyay gets you the big global developments for Wednesday.

Gravitas: Coronavirus: The big global developments for May 20

The communist party of China may now serve only vegetarian meals at its state receptions. WION's Executive Editor Palki Sharma Upadhyay tells you what's cooking in China.

Gravitas: Chinese leaders to go vegetarian?

Around the world, more than 49,00,000 people have been infected by the Coronavirus. India is reporting more than 1,05,000 confirmed cases.

Gravitas: Wuhan Coronavirus: More than 49,00,000 cases worldwide

Israel has come up with a remote-controlled mask that lets people to eat while wearing it. But is eating out worth the risk? WION's Executive Editor Palki Sharma Upadhyay gets you a report.

Gravitas: A mask with a remote control

Two rescued manatees were released back into the sea off the Florida Keys on Wednesday (May 20) after having been rehabilitated by rescue volunteers.

Rescued manatees released after rehab

Atletico Mineiro return to training under strict hygiene regulations with Brazil suffering high casualties from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brazil soccer club Atletico Mineiro step up hygiene rules in return to training

It's still at an initial stage, but a French team at a veterinary school is hoping to use dogs to sniff out COVID-19 positive people through the particular smell of sufferer's sweat.

French dogs trained to sniff out COVID-19 sufferers

A French charity raffle that raised money for African water projects on Wednesday (May 20) picked the winner of a Pablo Picasso painting worth $1.1 million.

Charity picks winner of 100-euro ticket for 1-million-euro Picasso painting

The world is watching Sweden. Sweden chose to stay open while half of the world was under lockdown. Watch report.

COVID-19 Pandemic: Were Swedes wrong to reject lockdown?

A curious squirrel in Munich is simply nuts about the beer-table made especially for its small paws by a bored schoolboy.

Curious squirrel enjoy its very own beer garden as it befriends bored Bavarians

At a football stadium in Syria's Idlib, re-purposed to shelter Syrians displaced by war, children are being offered a service that has become a sought-after commodity the world over since the coronavirus pandemic set in: a haircut.

In Syria's Idlib, traveling barbers bring children relief

It is not a bird, a plane or Superman: the aircraft humming in the skies above Colombia's capital Bogota are instead police drones that are meant to detect people with high temperatures or those violating the country's coronavirus quarantine.

Colombian police use drones to detect high body temperatures

Protests have flared up in the United States against the government's policies to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

Protesters held a mock funeral procession in Washington DC on Wednesday, with 'body bags' laid out in front of the White House to denounce the government response to the coronavirus pandemic.&nbsp;

The protest was staged by the family members of those who lost their lives to coronavirus.

Furthermore, hundreds of truck drivers have been protesting outside the White House for over a week. They are protesting against the lack of transparency in their wages. A group of truck drivers even interrupted President Trump's press conference on May 15.&nbsp;

The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States has exceeded 1.5 million,&nbsp;with as many 95,000 fatalities reported in the country so far.

Meanwhile, Trump administration has awarded a contract worth up to $812 million to a new US company to manufacture drugs and drug ingredients to fight COVID-19 on American soil, aiming to end dependence on other countries.

There are currently no approved treatments or vaccines for COVID-19 being tested by pharmaceutical giants across the world, with governments, drugmakers and researchers working on around 100 programmes and experts predicting a safe and effective means of preventing the disease could take 12 to 18 months to develop. 
&nbsp;

(With inputs from Reuters)

Protests have flared up in the United States against the government's policies to combat the coronavirus outbreak. Protesters held a mock funeral procession in Washington DC on Wednesday, with 'body bags' laid out in front of the White House to denounce the government response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Protests have flared up in the United States against the government's policies to combat the coronavirus outbreak. Protesters held a mock funeral procession in Washington DC on Wednesday, with 'body bags' laid out in front of the White House to denounce the government response to the coronavirus pandemic. The protest was staged by the family members of those who lost their lives to coronavirus. Furthermore, hundreds of truck drivers have been protesting outside the White House for over a week. They are protesting against the lack of transparency in their wages. A group of truck drivers even interrupted President Trump's press conference on May 15. The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States has exceeded 1.5 million, with as many 95,000 fatalities reported in the country so far. Meanwhile, Trump administration has awarded a contract worth up to $812 million to a new US company to manufacture drugs and drug ingredients to fight COVID-19 on American soil, aiming to end dependence on other countries. There are currently no approved treatments or vaccines for COVID-19 being tested by pharmaceutical giants across the world, with governments, drugmakers and researchers working on around 100 programmes and experts predicting a safe and effective means of preventing the disease could take 12 to 18 months to develop. (With inputs from Reuters)

Protesters stage mock funeral procession outside White House

Medical researchers in the Netherlands have signed up 1,500 people who have recovered from the new coronavirus to donate blood as part of an international push to develop a treatment for the virus from their plasma.

Netherlands: 1,500 people enrolled to donate blood for study

In this segment of WION, we bring to you a story of a Yazidi woman, a survivor of human trafficking. Watch report.

WION Dispatch: Yazidi woman reunites with family in Iraq

Japan's exports fell the most since the 2009 global financial crisis in April as the coronavirus pandemic slammed world demand for cars, industrial materials and other goods, likely pushing the world's third-largest economy deeper into recession.

COVID-19 Pandemic: Japan exports fall most since 2009

India's Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri announced on Wednesday that domestic passenger flights will recommence from May 25, the Centre issued the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) charting out the DO's and Don't as airline companies brace itself for travel during the coronavirus pandemic.

COVID-19 Pandemic: New rules for air travel in India

By Lai-Ha Chan and Pak K Lee

If the World Health Organization (WHO) wants to maintain its legitimacy on the world stage, it must now answer some tough questions about the extent it has kowtowed to China during the coronavirus pandemic.

It now has a chance to do so, after its members agreed to adopt a resolution for an inquiry into the global handling of the pandemic at a virtual meeting of its annual World Health Assembly on May 19. But there are still many other questions that need to be answered before it can restore its credibility.

We have studied China’s engagement with global health institutions such as the WHO, China’s compliance with global public health norms and how far it succeeds in creating and promoting its own norms around the world. Amid the global crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected nearly five million people and killed more than 320,000 in just a few short months, understanding the relationship between China, where the outbreak began, and the WHO is crucial to the future of global public health.

Uncritical of China

The WHO’s leadership has come under unprecedented scrutiny during the pandemic for giving the impression that it has been swayed by, and beholden to, China. In late January, in the early days of the outbreak, the WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, heaped unqualified praise on China’s COVID-19 policy measures and the leadership of Xi Jinping. He commended the “seriousness” with which China was taking the outbreak, “the commitment from top leadership, and the transparency they have demonstrated”.

But non-transparency and censorship are pervasive in all levels of China’s system of government. Tedros had been warned by his aides of the potential repercussions of his effusive praise of China, but reportedly ignored them. It appears the WHO also took the initial information and data about the epidemic transmitted to it by China at face value.

In late March, Japan’s deputy prime minister, Taro Aso, quipped that the WHO should be renamed the “Chinese Health Organization”. The US president, Donald Trump, went further – criticising the WHO of being too “China-centric” in handling the pandemic and of an “alarming lack of independence” from China.

Investigation battlefield

The WHO now needs to restore its global credibility. The call for an independent, comprehensive review of the COVID-19 pandemic quickly became a battlefield between China and Western countries, especially Australia and the US. What was eventually adopted on May 19 without objection was a compromise resolution, submitted by the European Union and endorsed by more than 100 other countries.

The resolution does not refer to China, but asks the WHO to work with the World Organisation for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization, now led by the Chinese scientist Qu Dongyu, to: “Identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population, including the possible role of intermediate hosts.” The resolution also looks forward, pointing to potential intellectual property right issues surrounding a new vaccine.

Speaking at the World Health Assembly the day before the resolution was adopted, Xi framed China as a staunch supporter of multilateral global health governance and committed $2 billion ($1.6 billion) to the international campaign to combat COVID-19. He promised that Chinese vaccines would be “global public goods”, directly confronting fears of a rise in vaccine nationalism in the West. But China’s moves were principally aimed at improving its tarnished reputation.

Tasks for the inquiry

With the resolution adopted, the battle will now centre on who should lead the inquiry. If this inquiry is to be genuinely independent, it must address unanswered questions about who was China’s “patient zero” and when and how they were infected.

A real test would be whether the WHO-led delegation could meet, independently of Chinese authorities, some of the key figures involved in managing the initial stages of the country’s COVID-19 outbreak. It would be enlightening for them to hear at firsthand from frontline doctors in Wuhan hospitals who treated the first batch of COVID-19 patients, such as the doctor Ai Fen. Others they may want to meet are the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s Shi Zhengli, known as China’s “bat woman” and the heads of the genomics laboratories which were reportedly asked to destroy the samples after testing.

Zhang Yongzhen of Fudan University in Shanghai would also be worth speaking to. Zhang has rarely appeared in Chinese official narratives, but his team concluded that the virus was of the coronavirus family, and their results were published in the journal Nature in early February. It later emerged that his laboratory had been ordered to close in early January, with no reason given.

Besides the inquiry into the origins of the virus, another key question is whether the WHO delayed declaring an international emergency after coming under pressure from China, a claim reported by Der Spiegel and Newsweek. According to Newsweek, citing a CIA report, the delay allowed China to hoard essential medical supplies and personal protective equipment from abroad.

Like other UN organisations, the WHO cannot enforce its decisions and policies without the support of its member states. Its success relies on whether it can persuade politicians and officials to comply with its decisions. Maintaining legitimacy is crucial if the WHO is to effectively tackle the future health crises that affect all of humanity.

 
(Lai-Ha Chan is Senior Lecturer in International Relations, University of Technology Sydney; Pak K Lee is Senior Lecturer in Chinese Politics and International Relations, University of Kent)

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

(This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-world-health-organization-must-answer-these-hard-questions-in-its-coronavirus-inquiry-138959"> original article</a>) &nbsp;

By Lai-Ha Chan and Pak K Lee If the World Health Organization (WHO) wants to maintain its legitimacy on the world stage, it must now answer some tough questions about the extent it has kowtowed to China during the coronavirus pandemic.

By Lai-Ha Chan and Pak K Lee If the World Health Organization (WHO) wants to maintain its legitimacy on the world stage, it must now answer some tough questions about the extent it has kowtowed to China during the coronavirus pandemic. It now has a chance to do so, after its members agreed to adopt a resolution for an inquiry into the global handling of the pandemic at a virtual meeting of its annual World Health Assembly on May 19. But there are still many other questions that need to be answered before it can restore its credibility. We have studied China’s engagement with global health institutions such as the WHO, China’s compliance with global public health norms and how far it succeeds in creating and promoting its own norms around the world. Amid the global crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected nearly five million people and killed more than 320,000 in just a few short months, understanding the relationship between China, where the outbreak began, and the WHO is crucial to the future of global public health. Uncritical of China The WHO’s leadership has come under unprecedented scrutiny during the pandemic for giving the impression that it has been swayed by, and beholden to, China. In late January, in the early days of the outbreak, the WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, heaped unqualified praise on China’s COVID-19 policy measures and the leadership of Xi Jinping. He commended the “seriousness” with which China was taking the outbreak, “the commitment from top leadership, and the transparency they have demonstrated”. But non-transparency and censorship are pervasive in all levels of China’s system of government. Tedros had been warned by his aides of the potential repercussions of his effusive praise of China, but reportedly ignored them. It appears the WHO also took the initial information and data about the epidemic transmitted to it by China at face value. In late March, Japan’s deputy prime minister, Taro Aso, quipped that the WHO should be renamed the “Chinese Health Organization”. The US president, Donald Trump, went further – criticising the WHO of being too “China-centric” in handling the pandemic and of an “alarming lack of independence” from China. Investigation battlefield The WHO now needs to restore its global credibility. The call for an independent, comprehensive review of the COVID-19 pandemic quickly became a battlefield between China and Western countries, especially Australia and the US. What was eventually adopted on May 19 without objection was a compromise resolution, submitted by the European Union and endorsed by more than 100 other countries. The resolution does not refer to China, but asks the WHO to work with the World Organisation for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization, now led by the Chinese scientist Qu Dongyu, to: “Identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population, including the possible role of intermediate hosts.” The resolution also looks forward, pointing to potential intellectual property right issues surrounding a new vaccine. Speaking at the World Health Assembly the day before the resolution was adopted, Xi framed China as a staunch supporter of multilateral global health governance and committed $2 billion ($1.6 billion) to the international campaign to combat COVID-19. He promised that Chinese vaccines would be “global public goods”, directly confronting fears of a rise in vaccine nationalism in the West. But China’s moves were principally aimed at improving its tarnished reputation. Tasks for the inquiry With the resolution adopted, the battle will now centre on who should lead the inquiry. If this inquiry is to be genuinely independent, it must address unanswered questions about who was China’s “patient zero” and when and how they were infected. A real test would be whether the WHO-led delegation could meet, independently of Chinese authorities, some of the key figures involved in managing the initial stages of the country’s COVID-19 outbreak. It would be enlightening for them to hear at firsthand from frontline doctors in Wuhan hospitals who treated the first batch of COVID-19 patients, such as the doctor Ai Fen. Others they may want to meet are the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s Shi Zhengli, known as China’s “bat woman” and the heads of the genomics laboratories which were reportedly asked to destroy the samples after testing. Zhang Yongzhen of Fudan University in Shanghai would also be worth speaking to. Zhang has rarely appeared in Chinese official narratives, but his team concluded that the virus was of the coronavirus family, and their results were published in the journal Nature in early February. It later emerged that his laboratory had been ordered to close in early January, with no reason given. Besides the inquiry into the origins of the virus, another key question is whether the WHO delayed declaring an international emergency after coming under pressure from China, a claim reported by Der Spiegel and Newsweek. According to Newsweek, citing a CIA report, the delay allowed China to hoard essential medical supplies and personal protective equipment from abroad. Like other UN organisations, the WHO cannot enforce its decisions and policies without the support of its member states. Its success relies on whether it can persuade politicians and officials to comply with its decisions. Maintaining legitimacy is crucial if the WHO is to effectively tackle the future health crises that affect all of humanity. (Lai-Ha Chan is Senior Lecturer in International Relations, University of Technology Sydney; Pak K Lee is Senior Lecturer in Chinese Politics and International Relations, University of Kent) (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL) (This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article)

The World Health Organisation must answer these hard questions in its coronavirus inquiry

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