The latest from the World Health Assembly

Tulip Mazumdar
Global Health Correspondent

Australia, where restrictions have eased, has suggested the WHO should have more powers to inspect countries image caption: Australia, where restrictions have eased, has suggested the WHO should have more powers to inspect countries
So far countries have been very supportive of the World Health Organization, with both China and South Korea pledging hundreds of millions of dollars to the global fight against Covid-19. The director-general of the UN's health agency has welcomed international calls for an independent investigation into the WHO-led global response, promising a "lessons learned" inquiry at the "earliest appropriate moment".Both South Korea and Australia have said the assembly should also consider giving the WHO more powers, with Australia specifically pointing to greater "inspection powers". There have been calls for the agency to be mandated to go into countries very early in outbreaks, to carry out independent investigations. China, meanwhile, has said it supports a "comprehensive evaluation" of the global response but only after the pandemic "has been brought under control". That could take months or even years. The US has yet to address the assembly, but expect pushback from them on this.