A World Health Organization report into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic is a "helpful first step" but more work is needed to understand how it started and how it jumped to humans, the EU said on Tuesday.
The 27 European Union member states highlighted "the need for further work to study the origins of the virus and its route of introduction to the human population". "It is critical for independent experts to have full access to all pertinent human, animal and environmental data, research, and personnel involved in the early stages of the outbreak relevant to determining how this pandemic emerged," said the statement, without explicitly criticising China.
The idea of such a treaty, which would ensure universal and equitable access to vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for pandemics, was floated by the chairman of European Union leaders Charles Michel at a G20 summit last November.
The main goal of such a treaty would be to strengthen the world's resilience to future pandemics through better alert systems, data sharing, research and the production and distribution of vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and personal protective equipment, they said.
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