A team of World Health Organization (WHO) experts investigating the origins of COVID-19 on Sunday went to a market in Wuhan where one of the first reported clusters of infections emerged over a year ago, with one member tweeting the visit was "critical" to understanding the virus. Members of the group arrived at Huanan seafood market - which has been sealed since January last year - driving into its barricaded premises as guards quickly blocked others from entering, accordi

2020 was a dreadful year. As COVID-19 spread and developed into a pandemic of truly global proportions, countless lives were lost, livelihoods shattered, and activities, which we once took for granted, became a distant dream. Against this sombre backdrop, however, another story unfolded.

Last January, my fellow Elders Mary Robinson and Ban Ki-moon participated in the unveiling of the Doomsday Clock, the annual indicator of global catastrophic risk published by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In 2020, the clock’s hands moved closer to “midnight” than they have ever been – just 100 seconds away – and they will remain there in 2021.

The COVAX programme, bolstered by the new United States (US) presidency on Thursday, aims to secure enough COVID-19 vaccines this year for the most vulnerable 20 percent in every country, rich or poor.Top US government scientist Anthony Fauci told the World Health Organization (WHO) that the United States intends to join Covax, the globally-pooled coronavirus vaccine procurement and equitable distribution effort.The move should give the facility a much-needed powerful impetus - amid fears tha

China and the World Health Organization (WHO) could have acted faster to avert catastrophe during the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak, a panel of independent experts has concluded.The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response said its evaluation of the start of the crisis in China "suggests that there was potential for early signs to have been acted on more rapidly".Containment measures should have been implemented immediately in all countries where transmiss

China's ruling Communist Party leaders have congratulated themselves on their "extremely extraordinary" success in handling the COVID-19 outbreak domestically, ahead of a World Health Organization (WHO) probe into the disease's origins.China faced a barrage of criticism at home and abroad over its initial handling of the virus, which emerged in the central city of Wuhan last December.China's Politburo, the top decision-making body of the Communist Party, said late Fri

The sacrifices made to protect people during the coronavirus pandemic must not be squandered over the festive period, the World Health Organization's (WHO) chief said in a Christmas message.Millions were making "heart-wrenching sacrifices" by staying away from loved ones on Christmas Day, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a video clip posted to Twitter late Thursday, while others will have a missing face at the family table.He said vaccines, now beginning to be deployed in cou

The World Health Organization's international mission to China to investigate the origins of COVID-19 will explore all avenues and is not looking to find "guilty" parties, a team member told AFP.Investigators will head to China in January and to Wuhan, where the first cases were detected 12 months ago in the pandemic that has swept the world, causing giant global health and economic crises."The meetings we had so far with Chinese colleagues were really productive and very

The world has received the best possible gift for the coming year. The development of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines in such a short time is something close to a medical miracle and portends an end to the crisis that dominated 2020. But the pace at which we will end the pandemic depends on three factors. The first is the extent of continued compliance with recommended safety measures such as mask wearing, social distancing, crowd avoidance, and hand washing.

Poorer countries will begin to receive coronavirus vaccination doses early next year from a facility created to ensure fair access, the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners said Friday.Almost two billion doses of candidate vaccines have been secured for the COVAX facility, run by the WHO along with the Gavi vaccine alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).Countries including the United States (US) and Britain have already begun to roll out a vaccine