The World Health Organization has urged China to share data on the origins of the Covid pandemic, five years after its beginning in the city of Wuhan.

“This is a moral and scientific imperative,” WHO said in a statement to mark it as a “milestone” anniversary.

It says, “Without transparency, sharing and cooperation between countries, the world cannot adequately prevent and prepare for future epidemics and pandemics.”

Many scientists believe the virus transferred naturally from animals to humans, but some doubts remain that it originated from a laboratory in Wuhan.

China has not responded to Monday’s WHO statement. In the past it has strongly rejected the lab leak theory.

In September, a team of scientists said it was “beyond reasonable doubt”. The Covid pandemic began with infected animals being sold in the market.Instead of a lab leak.

They came to this conclusion after analyzing hundreds of samples collected from Wuhan in January 2020.

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In its statement, WHO turned to the early days of Covid and traced its evolution from a local incident to a global crisis that led to lockdowns around the world and the ultimately successful race to develop vaccines.

“Five years ago on 31 December 2019, the WHO Country Office in China lifted a media statement from the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission on its website on cases of ‘viral pneumonia’ in Wuhan, China,” the organization said.

“In the weeks, months and years that followed, COVID-19 came to shape our lives and our world,” it continued.

WHO said it “immediately got to work” as 2020 began. It recalled how its staff activated emergency systems on January 1 and informed the world three days later.

It added, “From January 9-12, WHO published its first set of comprehensive guidance for countries, and on January 13, we called on partners to publish the first Sars-CoV-2 laboratory testing roadmap. Brought together.”

WHO said it wanted to “honor the lives changed and lost, recognize those who have suffered from COVID-19 and long-term COVID, and express our gratitude to the health workers who are caring for us.” We have sacrificed so much for this, and are committed to learning from COVID-19.” To build a healthy tomorrow”.

WHO announced this in May 2023 COVID-19 no longer represents a “global health emergency”,

Its director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at the time that at least seven million people had died in the pandemic.

But he said the real figure is “likely” closer to 20 million deaths – about three times the official estimate.

Since then, the WHO has repeatedly warned against complacency about the possible emergence of Covid-like diseases in the future.

Dr. Ghebreyesus has said the next pandemic “could come at any time” and urged the world to be prepared.