India Joins 62-Nation Coalition Calling For Investigations Into Covid-19 Origins

India has officially joined a 62-nation coalition ushing for investigations into how Sars-CoV-2 virus which causes COVID-19 disease was transmitted from animals to humans, reports Hindustan Times.

The coalition has also called for conduction of an impartial evaluation of the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s response to the pandemic, as per the draft resolution proposed for the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly which is WHO's parent governing body. The meeting is set to begin today (18 May).

The coalition's push for an investigation into the pandemic and WHO's role in the time of crisis has been driven primarily by Australia and the European Union. India's decision to join the call for investigation also marks the first such instance when the nation has formally articulated its stand on the issue.

However, it should be noted that during the recently held virtual summit of the G20, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi had backed WHO reformation and had underscored the need for transparency and accountability.

The developments come as a major setback for China which has been accused of concealing the information about the virus in it early days, leading to the death of more than 3,00,000 people globally, while also imposing on the global economy a major blow.

According to Health Policy Watch, till as late as February, the WHO did not support countries for imposing travel restrictions to China.

"When countries began evacuating their citizens from Wuhan, the COVID-19 epicentre, the WHO said it did not favour this step". The WHO finally declared it a pandemic on 11 March.

The global health body has come under criticism not just from the US for its response being "China-centric".