Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

People visit an exhibition about Chinaí fight against the COVID-19 at a convention center that was previously a makeshift hospital for coronavirus patients in Wuhan on January 15, 2021. Nicolas Asfouri, AFP

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<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/177087378045120210115-china-covid-museum-AFP-.jpg" style="width:960px;display:block;height:auto" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">People visit an exhibition about Chinaí fight against the COVID-19 at a convention center that was previously a makeshift hospital for coronavirus patients in Wuhan on January 15, 2021. Nicolas Asfouri, AFP</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>GENEVA, Switzerland — The World Health Organization on Wednesday urged Washington to share any intelligence it may be withholding on the Covid-19 pandemic&#x27;s origins, despite the United States quitting the WHO.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/01/19/21/factbox-the-origins-of-covid-19">FACTBOX: The origins of COVID-19</a></div><p>The global catastrophe killed an estimated 20 million people, according to the UN health agency, while shredding economies, crippling health systems and turning people&#x27;s lives upside-down.</p><p>The first cases were detected in Wuhan in China in late 2019, and understanding where the SARS-CoV-2 virus came from is seen as key to preventing future pandemics.</p><p>On his first day back in office in January 2025, US President Donald Trump handed the WHO his country&#x27;s one-year withdrawal notice, which cited &quot;the organization&#x27;s mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic.&quot;</p><p>Trump&#x27;s administration has officially embraced the theory that the virus leaked from a virology laboratory in Wuhan.</p><p>But the WHO said Washington did not hand over any Covid origins intelligence before marching out the organization&#x27;s door.</p><p>WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recalled that some countries have publicly said &quot;they have intelligence about the origins—especially the US.&quot;</p><p>Therefore, several months ago, the UN health agency wrote to senior officials in the United States, urging them to &quot;share any intelligence information that they have&quot;, he told a press conference on Wednesday.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/health-science/2024/12/30/five-years-on-who-urges-china-to-share-covid-origins-data-0742">Five years on, WHO urges China to share Covid origins data</a></div><p>&quot;We haven&#x27;t received any information,&quot; Tedros lamented.</p><p>&quot;We hope they will share, because we haven&#x27;t still concluded the Covid origins,&quot; and &quot;knowing what happened could help us to prevent the next&quot; pandemic.</p><p>The WHO&#x27;s investigations have proved inconclusive, pending further evidence, with all hypotheses still on the table.</p><p>Tedros asked any government which had intelligence on the Covid-19 pandemic&#x27;s origins to share the information so that the WHO will be able to reach a conclusion.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>CRITICAL INFORMATION &#x27;OBSTRUCTED&#x27; </strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO&#x27;s epidemic and pandemic threat management chief, said: &quot;We continue to follow up with all governments that have said that they have intelligence reports, the US included.</p><p>&quot;We don&#x27;t have those reports to date,&quot; she said, other than those in the public domain.</p><p>As the US notice countdown expired on January 22, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the WHO had &quot;obstructed the timely and accurate sharing of critical information that could have saved American lives.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/overseas/04/10/20/wuhan-wakes-up-from-covid-19-nightmare-to-start-again">Wuhan wakes up from COVID-19 nightmare to start again</a></div><p>They also claimed the WHO had &quot;tarnished and trashed everything that America has done for it&quot;.</p><p>&quot;The reverse is true,&quot; the WHO said in reply.</p><p>The WHO constitution does not include a withdrawal clause.</p><p>But the United States reserved the right to withdraw when it joined the WHO in 1948 -- on condition of giving one year&#x27;s notice and meeting its financial obligations in full for that fiscal year.</p><p>The notice period has now expired but Washington has still not paid its 2024 or 2025 dues, owing around $260 million, according to data published by the WHO.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEOS</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gQK2MHYLyYA?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1c9g0JImgIE?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5D7Bm8Y3P2M?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>The global catastrophe killed an estimated 20 million people, according to the UN health agency, while shredding economies, crippling health systems and turning people's lives upside-down.</p>

The global catastrophe killed an estimated 20 million people, according to the UN health agency, while shredding economies, crippling health systems and turning people's lives upside-down.

'Help us prevent the next pandemic': WHO urges US to share Covid origins intel

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'Help us prevent the next pandemic': WHO urges US to share Covid origins intel

Robin Millard,

Agence France-Presse

Published Feb 12, 2026 01:25 PM PHT

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