The World Health Organization (WHO) has renewed its call for transparency over the origins of Covid-19, urging the United States to release any intelligence it may be withholding about how the pandemic began.
The appeal comes years after the global outbreak first emerged and despite Washington’s formal withdrawal from the UN health agency.
The Covid-19 pandemic killed an estimated 20 million people worldwide, according to the WHO, devastating economies, crippling health systems and disrupting lives on an unprecedented scale.
The first known cases were detected in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. Determining the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is widely regarded as critical to preventing future pandemics.
On his first day back in office in January 2025, US President Donald Trump issued a one-year notice withdrawing the United States from the WHO, accusing the organisation of mishandling the pandemic.
His administration has publicly supported the theory that the virus leaked from a virology laboratory in Wuhan.
However, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the United States did not share any new intelligence with the agency before completing its withdrawal.
“Some countries have publicly said they have intelligence about the origins — especially the US,” Tedros told a press conference on Wednesday.
He revealed that several months ago, the WHO formally wrote to senior US officials requesting any relevant intelligence information.
“We haven’t received any information,” he said.
“We hope they will share, because we haven’t still concluded the Covid origins. Knowing what happened could help us to prevent the next pandemic.”
The WHO’s investigations into the origins of Covid-19 have so far remained inconclusive, with all major hypotheses including natural spillover and laboratory leak still under consideration.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s epidemic and pandemic threat management chief, said the agency continues to follow up with governments that claim to possess intelligence on the matter.
“We continue to follow up with all governments that have said that they have intelligence reports, the US included,” she said.
“We don’t have those reports to date, other than what is publicly available.”
As the US withdrawal period expired on January 22, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accused the WHO of obstructing the timely and accurate sharing of critical information during the pandemic.
In response, the WHO rejected those claims, stating that “the reverse is true.”
Although the WHO constitution does not contain a withdrawal clause, the United States reserved the right to exit when it joined the organisation in 1948, provided it gave one year’s notice and settled its financial obligations.
According to WHO data, Washington has yet to pay its 2024 and 2025 contributions, amounting to approximately $260 million.
