Origin of COVID-19 irrelevant, we need to focus on its emergence – Africa CDC Director

Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Dr John Nkengasong has opined that understanding the emergence of the novel Coronavirus disease outweighs pointing out its origin.

According to him, the origin of the pandemic is irrelevant because it is more important to channel effort into making sense of how it emerged and adopting preventive and eradication measures.

He made this known during the 2022 Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg memorial lectures and special congregation at the University of Ghana.

“Till today we still don’t know the origin and the emergence of this virus. It is important for us as humans to know how the virus emerged. The origin is irrelevant but how it emerged is so important.

"So that we know how to target interventions and make sure that about 6 million people do not die in the next pandemic needlessly.

"It has nothing to do with making one country look bad or another country look good. I think when we shift politics aside and focus on science, we can do good for humanity,” he said on March 18, 2022 at UG’s Great Hall.

His comments come in the backdrop of former US President, Donald Trump’s claims labeling the World Health Organization a “puppet of China” in 2020.

The US then said the World Health Organization (WHO) had let Covid-19 spin “out of control” at the cost of “many lives”.

Speaking on the theme 'Fighting the COVID-19 pandemic: Africa at a crossroad?', Dr John Nkengasong listed three lessons the pandemic taught humans including common connectivity, a common vulnerability, common inequities or inequalities.

He proposed a doctrine of fighting the pandemic through an understanding of “5Ps”; Pathogen, Population, Policy, Politics and Partnerships.

Dr John Nkengasong called for an urgent need to strengthen the health system in African countries.