GENEVA, Dec 1, Reuters -- The World Health Organization WHO agreed on Wednesday to start negotiations on an international pact to prevent and control future pandemics at a time when the world is gearing up to battle the new Omicron variant of coronaviruses.
An agreement to beef up measures to prevent and fight pandemics is expected to be in May 2024 and covers issues from data sharing and genome sequencing of emerging viruses to potential vaccines and drugs derived from research.
The decision was adopted by consensus at a special ministerial assembly of the 194 nations that are members of the UN health body, drawing applause from delegations at the end of a three-day meeting.
Australia's ambassador Sally Mansfield said that the text before us was the product of extensive discussions, of frank exchanges and compromises.
Let us move forward together in solidarity to do the hard work that we have ahead of us. The European Union EU had pushed for an international legally binding treaty, along with about 70 countries, but Brazil, India and the United States were not willing to commit to such a pact, diplomats said.
More than 262.22 million people have been reported to have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID 19 and 5.46 million deaths since it emerged in China in December 2019.
The WHO says China hasn't shared some of its early data that could help pinpoint the origin of the disease.
The United States welcomed the decision on the talks for the agreement that it co-sponsored.
This momentous step represents our collective responsibility to work together to make health security more effective and the global health system more responsive, the UN mission in Geneva said on Wednesday.
The United States committed to working with other members on amendments to the 2005 International Health Regulations in parallel to the negotiations on a pandemic instrument.
It said the measures would aim to boost implementation and compliance on issues such as early warning alerts, timely information sharing and rapid risk assessment.