The first international online conference was launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) today in the context of Covid-19, which has infected more than 4.8 million people and killed nearly 317,000 people globally.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on May 15 called this `one of the most important events of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the decision-making body of WHO, since the organization was founded.`

However, Ghebreyesus said that the opportunity to reach a global agreement on measures to resolve the Covid-19 crisis could be threatened by the worsening relationship between the world’s two largest economies.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus held a press conference in Switzerland on March 11.

Trump last week threatened to cut relations with China, where Covid-19 originated at the end of 2019, because of disappointment with the way the country handled the epidemic.

Despite the tensions, countries still expect today’s meeting to reach consensus on a draft resolution to urge a global response to the pandemic.

The resolution also calls on WHO to work closely with agencies and countries to determine the origin of nCoV and the way this virus spread to humans.

In addition, the conference is expected to focus on the Taiwan issue, in the context of the island’s refusal to join the WHO that Beijing proposed.

However, WHO emphasized that allowing Taiwan to participate or not would require a resolution from member states, which in 1972 decided that Beijing would be the sole legal representative of China at the organization.

Taiwan recently tried to lobby to be able to attend the WHA conference as an observer.

The US and Japan’s support for Taiwan at the WHA conference further angered China.

Taiwan has participated in the WHA as an observer since 2009, when relations between Beijing and Taipei were still warm.

More than 210 countries and territories have had Covid-19 after the outbreak started in Wuhan, China in December 2019.

Mai Lam (According to CNA)