The organization’s staff should be given the same authority as the “UN Arms Inspectors”, Scott Morrison believes.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called for reform of the World Health Organization (WHO) and more empowerment of its staff.
In an interview with Sky News on Thursday night, the Australian leader said he believed that WHO specialists should be given the same authority as “UN arms inspectors”, which would strengthen the organization’s capacity to fight future outbreaks of disease.
“If we have an opportunity that could potentially save thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of lives, then we must realize it,” the prime minister said. He said that “the mandate, as the arms inspector, will allow the WHO staff to enter countries to investigate the source of disease outbreaks without invitation” and to access information that is crucial for monitoring and control of diseases.
Morrison also stressed that the world now “needs a transparent and independent process to understand what happened [during the outbreak] and, more importantly, what needs to change to avoid a recurrence”. “The virus had a very high pandemic potential from the outset, <…> and therefore we must understand all the circumstances surrounding its spread as soon as possible,” the prime minister stressed.
Currently, 6,659 cases of coronavirus infection have been registered in Australia. Since 25 January, when the first case of infection was detected in the country, 4,671 people have recovered, 75 patients have died from the disease caused by the virus. Over the past 24 hours, 12 new cases of infection have been detected on the continent, the lowest since 9 March. The average daily increase in the number of cases in the country is 0.3%.