Accounting for Covid-19

Beijing’s rejection of Donald Trump’s demand to allow an American team to investigate the origins of Covid-19 is on expected lines. But China’s contention that it too is a victim of the pandemic offers no solace to the US or the rest of the world. What policymakers around the world are keen to get a grip on is the extent of its culpability, if any, in withholding crucial information that could have prevented the spread. Did China fumble in its initial response to the outbreak, did the missteps worsen the crisis, did it misreport the situation, did it knowingly influence the WHO against imposing a timely travel ban? Was escaping blame its sole goal? The questions need to be answered not because the world needs someone to pin the responsibility on and then demand punishment, but because of what it holds for the future.

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Establishing the facts surrounding the virus’ origins and the immediate response is the only way forward to putting in place international public health agreements on reporting a potential outbreak. While holding the countries accountable, the guidelines should make it binding on them to sound the alarm early and allow on-the-ground access. But for such mechanisms to materialise, organisations like the WHO where all member-states are promised an equal stake need to be strengthened, not weakened, as Trump intends doing. A key lesson is that the WHO should no longer be at the mercy of a single country for information that affects the security of all.

There is little doubt about Beijing’s lack of transparency on the emergence of the virus, but holding it responsible for the US becoming the current epicentre only results in blame-shifting — a game both the leading economies routinely indulge in. It is not the time to pick fights. It dilutes the kind of international cooperation that a pandemic requires. One that will help understand and contain the coranavirus by sharing scientific expertise to guide policy. One that will see wider and faster cooperation on R&D, on logistical support to healthcare workers, and on lending hope.