India backs probe into Coronavirus origin against China at the WHO's annual World Health Assembly (WHA) meet

Geneva: At the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) latest meet, India has adopted an explicit stand by supporting the investigation against China. India has accepted the position as Chairperson of the WHO Executive Board and the decision thus assumes much significance. The move is India’s first instance of openly adopting a stand against China over the COVID-19 and appears to have sent the appropriate message.

The World Health Assembly, which is the decision-making body of WHO, has convened a meet since Monday. The Novel Coronavirus pandemic and amendments for the WHO are said to be its key agendas. The process to corner China over Coronavirus has thus gained momentum.

The European Union (EU) and Australia have demanded a thorough investigation into the new Coronavirus pandemic and its origin. Full resolutions have been prepared in this regard, which rest the entire blame for it on China. The proposal to table the resolution has received direct support from 61 nations, which include Australia and the European countries. With India now joining the coalition, the total number of nations openly offering their support to it has risen to 62. Of the Assembly’s 194 member nations, more than 120 have expressed support for the draft resolution, a few media outlets claimed.

This is the first time that India has gone against China over the issue concerning the Coronavirus. In the G-20 March summit, India had presented amendments to the WHO and transparency as key points. Nevertheless, India made no mention of China while doing so. A few days ago, a senior Indian leader had released a statement wherein he said that the origin of the Coronavirus was not natural. However, even in this case, China was not directly targeted. At the WHO’s World Health Assembly meeting, India has openly targeted China.

The increasing number of resolutions coming in against China on Monday indicated more trouble for China. A senior official from China’s National Health Commission admitted to destroying the initial samples of the Covid-19 virus. In an interview to a daily, Liu Dengfeng, an official with the National Health Commission’s science and education department, stated that unauthorised labs were ordered to destroy the samples. Dengfeng went on to claim that the decision was made to ensure the biosecurity of the country.

The admittance of the Chinese official appears to corroborate the allegations the United States and other nations have levelled against China. While making the accusation, the US had criticised China for not extending cooperation to the US and other countries in the initial stages of the Coronavirus outbreak. ‘If China had informed of the pandemic in time, the spread could have been limited to Wuhan itself, and the crisis thereafter avoided. China, however, did not allow that to happen,’ said President Trump as he launched a scathing attack. Now, Trump’s criticism seems to be receiving an endorsement from other nations as well.

Meanwhile, Feng Feng, author of Wuhan Diary who revealed China’s reality during the pandemic, has made a new sensational statement. ‘The Chinese systems and officials had misled the public by telling them the virus was not contagious. However, my brother had informed in December itself that the virus was deadly and contagious,’ said Feng Feng.

The WHO resolution followed by the information the author and official have disclosed, make evident the considerable tightening of the noose on China over Coronavirus.

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