WHO chief to review its pandemic handling, vows transparency

18 May 2020 • 8:53 PM MYT
Malay Mail
Malay Mail

Latest Malaysia breaking stories on politics, analysis and opinions

image is not available
Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there were 'lessons to learn' from the pandemic. — Reuters pic

GENEVA, May 18 — The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said today that he would initiate an independent evaluation of its handling of the coronavirus pandemic at the “earliest appropriate moment” and vowed transparency and accountability.

“We all have lessons to learn from the pandemic. Every country and every organisation must examine its response and learn from its experience. WHO is committed to transparency, accountability and continuous improvement,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told its annual ministerial assembly.

Tedros thanked early high-level speakers for their “strong support for WHO at this critical time” and said that the review must encompass responsibility of “all actors in good faith”.

“The risk remains high and we have a long road to travel,” Tedros said. Preliminary serological tests in some countries showed that at most 20 per cent of populations had contracted the disease and “in most places less than 10 per cent”, he said. — Reuters