The European Union (EU) will push for a global deal that might see a ban on wildlife markets and incentives for nations in situations where they quickly report a new virus or variants, EU officials familiar with the matter told news agency Reuters.
The news agency citing the aforementioned people said that the EU is aiming to reach a preliminary agreement within August this year. The initial deal, however, has not received backing from the United States as well as other major nations. These nations want any such treaty, if framed, to be non-binding.
The incentives in the treaty allow guaranteed access to medicines and vaccines developed against new viruses. Countries detect and report a new virus could also receive immediate support according to the draft of the deal, according to Reuters. It could also involve shipments of medical equipment from a global stockpile.
The talks will involve Japan, the Netherlands, Brazil, South Africa, Egypt and Thailand representing the major parts of the world. Brazil already has expressed its desire that the treaty remains non-binding. The EU, however, wants to introduce legally-binding obligations to prevent and report new virus outbreaks, according to the draft deal document seen by Reuters.
One of the widely held beliefs regarding the origin of Covid-19 is that it spread from wild animals which are culled on a regular basis in Wuhan wet market. Wet markets are common not only in China but in most parts of Asia barring some nations in West Asia. Almost all traditional markets in China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan and other nations are wet markets, but China’s controversial usage of endangered wild animals and rare animals for traditional cure has made its wet markets a suspect when it comes to epidemics caused by zoonotic viruses.
Several nations in the West have directly or indirectly accused China for withholding information regarding Covid-19 during the initial phases of the pandemic. The lab leak theory is also reminder that a school of thought exists that experiments carried out inside a microbiology lab in Wuhan may have gone awry infecting its members and in turn the rest of Wuhan.
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