The World Health Organization (WHO) has appealed to the United States to disclose any information it holds on the origins of Covid-19, even after Washington formally exited the global health body.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said some countries, “especially the US,” had publicly claimed to possess intelligence on how the virus emerged. “Therefore, several months ago, we wrote to senior officials in the United States, urging them to ‘share any intelligence information that they have’,” he told reporters. “We haven’t received any information.”
He stressed that identifying the virus’s source remains critical, adding, “We hope they will share, because we haven’t still concluded the Covid origins,” and “knowing what happened could help us to prevent the next” pandemic.
Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s epidemic and pandemic threat management chief, said, “We continue to follow up with all governments that have said that they have intelligence reports, the US included. We don’t have those reports to date.”
The United States formally notified the WHO of its withdrawal in January 2025 under President Donald Trump, who accused the agency of “mishandling” the pandemic and backed the theory that Covid-19 leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
In response to US claims that the WHO “obstructed the timely and accurate sharing of critical information,” the agency said, “The reverse is true.”
The WHO noted that Washington still owes about $260 million in unpaid dues for 2024 and 2025, even though its withdrawal notice period has expired.
