WHO chief: Omicron shows need for global pandemic deal

GENEVA – The World Health Organization is pushing for an international agreement on Monday to help prevent and combat future pandemics amid the emergence of a disturbing new variant of COVID-19 from omicron.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said that many uncertainties remain about the transmission and severity of infection with highly mutated omicron.

Tedros joined leaders like outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chilean President Sebastian Pinera for a long-planned and largely virtual special session of member states of the United Nations health agency at the World Assembly of the health.

The gathering aims to develop a global action plan to prevent, prepare for and respond to future pandemics.

“The emergence of the highly mutated omicron variant underscores how perilous and precarious our situation is,” Tedros said, calling for a “legally binding” agreement that was not mentioned in a draft text seeking consensus on the way forward. “Indeed, omicron demonstrates why the world needs a new pandemic deal.”

“Our current system deters countries from alerting others to threats that will inevitably land on their shores,” he said, claiming that South Africa and Botswana – where the new variant has been detected in southern Africa – should be commended and not “penalized” for their work. It was an allusion to the travel restrictions announced by many countries on air travel to and from the region.

Tedros said scientists from the WHO and others around the world were urgently working to decipher the threat post by the new variant, saying: “We don’t yet know if omicron is associated with more than transmission, more serious disease, more risk of infection or risk of bypassing vaccines.

The world should now be “wide awake” to the threat of the coronavirus, “but the very emergence of omicron is another reminder that although many of us may think we are done with COVID-19. It’s not over with us, ”he added.

A draft resolution to be adopted by the World Health Assembly does not call for work on the specific establishment of a “pandemic treaty” or a “legally binding instrument” sought by some, which could strengthen the international response when – not if – a new pandemic breaks out.

EU member countries and others had called for language calling for treaty work, but the US and a few other countries argued that the substance of any deal should first be worked out. before such a document is given a name. A “treaty” would suggest a legally binding agreement that might require ratification – and likely result in domestic political haggling in some countries.

Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose 16-year term is due to end next week, has called for “reliable funding” for the WHO and an increase in member states’ contributions to the UN agency – while alluding to the EU’s position in favor of a binding agreement.

“The catastrophic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of health and economy should serve as a lesson to us,” she said by video message. “Viruses do not know national borders. This is precisely why we must define the measures to be taken to improve prevention, early detection and response in a binding way at the international level.

British Ambassador to Geneva Simon Manley tweeted a copy of the draft text which was approved by consensus – as required by WHO rules on these matters – and praised Chile and the Australia for their work as co-chairs.

“The #Omicron variant shows yet again why we need a common understanding of how we prepare for and respond to pandemics, so we’re all playing by the same rules,” he wrote.

The draft makes no reference to the word “treaty” but, among other things, calls for the creation of an “intergovernmental negotiating body” among WHO Member States to develop a possible agreement to improve prevention, preparedness. and the response to the pandemic.

The three-day meeting that opened on Monday represents a long-term approach: any UN-backed deal will likely take several months, if not years, to be concluded and come into force.

But it comes as many countries scrambled to deal with the emergence of the omicron which led to travel bans across the world and rocked stock markets on Friday.