WHO urges US to share Covid origins intel


By AFP
February 11, 2026


The Covid-19 pandemic killed millions, shredded economies and turned people's lives upside-down - Copyright AFP Sergei SUPINSKY

Robin MILLARD

The World Health Organization on Wednesday urged Washington to share any intelligence it may be withholding on the Covid-19 pandemic’s origins, despite the United States quitting the WHO.

The global catastrophe killed an estimated 20 million people, according to the UN health agency, while shredding economies, crippling health systems and turning people’s lives upside-down.

The first cases were detected in Wuhan in China in late 2019, and understanding where the SARS-CoV-2 virus came from is seen as key to preventing future pandemics.

On his first day back in office in January 2025, US President Donald Trump handed the WHO his country’s one-year withdrawal notice, which cited “the organisation’s mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic”.

Trump’s administration has officially embraced the theory that the virus leaked from a virology laboratory in Wuhan.

But the WHO said Washington did not hand over any Covid origins intelligence before marching out the organisation’s door.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recalled that some countries have publicly said “they have intelligence about the origins — especially the US”.

Therefore, several months ago, the UN health agency wrote to senior officials in the United States, urging them to “share any intelligence information that they have”, he told a press conference on Wednesday.

“We haven’t received any information,” Tedros lamented.

“We hope they will share, because we haven’t still concluded the Covid origins,” and “knowing what happened could help us to prevent the next” pandemic.

The WHO’s investigations have proved inconclusive, pending further evidence, with all hypotheses still on the table.

Tedros asked any government which had intelligence on the Covid-19 pandemic’s origins to share the information so that the WHO will be able to reach a conclusion.



– Critical information ‘obstructed’ –



Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s epidemic and pandemic threat management chief, said: “We continue to follow up with all governments that have said that they have intelligence reports, the US included.

“We don’t have those reports to date,” she said, other than those in the public domain.

As the US notice countdown expired on January 22, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the WHO had “obstructed the timely and accurate sharing of critical information that could have saved American lives”.

They also claimed the WHO had “tarnished and trashed everything that America has done for it”.

“The reverse is true,” the WHO said in reply.

The WHO constitution does not include a withdrawal clause.

But the United States reserved the right to withdraw when it joined the WHO in 1948 — on condition of giving one year’s notice and meeting its financial obligations in full for that fiscal year.

The notice period has now expired but Washington has still not paid its 2024 or 2025 dues, owing around $260 million, according to data published by the WHO.

 

UCLA study reveals dual forces driving SARS-CoV-2 Evolution: Immune pressure and viral fitness

New research clarifies the complex role of neutralizing antibodies in shaping disease outcomes and the evolution of SARS-CoV-2

Immunity & Inflammation

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image: 

Conceptual illustration representing interactions between the immune system and SARS-CoV-2. The image reflects broader processes involved in antibody responses and viral adaptation during infection.

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Credit: National Institutes of Health (NIH) from Openverse | Image source link: https://openverse.org/image/d64c06e0-8828-49d5-bb21-f4f76692a61f?q=Coronavirus&p=26

While widespread vaccination and infection have established population-level immunity, the relationship between antibody-driven immunity, viral evolution, and disease severity has remained unclear. On January 27, 2026, Prof. Genhong Cheng at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), published a brief report titled “Impacts of neutralizing antibody responses on SARS-CoV-2 evolution and its associated disease progression” in Immunity & Inflammation. This study addresses the gap through a single-center, retrospective longitudinal cohort.

Antibody Levels Paint a Complex Clinical Picture

The researchers analyzed serum samples from individuals infected during the initial pandemic wave (pre-vaccine), during and after the Omicron wave. For the first-wave patients, they categorized them based on serum virus neutralization titers into lower (S25), middle (S50), and upper (S75) antibody-level groups.

The analysis uncovered a subtle relationship between antibody levels and disease. Patients with lower neutralizing antibody levels experienced symptoms for a longer duration and required more PCR tests, suggesting a prolonged battle to clear the virus. Surprisingly, none of the S25 patients developed severe disease, whereas some in the middle and higher groups required pharmacological intervention or respiratory support. The study also noted that higher antibody levels were negatively correlated with baseline health status, indicating that healthier individuals may mount a more robust initial response. These results underscore that “neutralizing antibodies are a key, but not sole, determinant of COVID-19 clinical outcomes,” the authors pointed out.

The Evolutionary Clue: Escaping Immunity vs. Gaining Entry

A core finding of the research illuminates the driving force of viral evolution. By testing serum from patients infected at different times against a panel of historical variants, the team observed a persistent decline in neutralization potency against newer strains. Antibodies generated from early infections showed a remarkable reduction, or even complete loss, of effectiveness against newer variants such as Omicron sub-lineages. In contrast, antibodies elicited by newer infections retained some neutralizing capacity against contemporaneous viruses, indicating the immune system adapts, but lags behind.

This pattern confirms that population-wide antibody responses exert a powerful selective pressure, driving the virus to mutate and evade detection. However, escape alone is insufficient for a variant to become dominant. The researchers highlighted the case of XBB.1.5. “While it possessed a similar ability to evade antibodies as its predecessor XBB.1, a single mutation (S486P) in its spike protein significantly increased its affinity for the human ACE2 receptor,” the authors highlighted. This enhanced binding capability provided the critical fitness advantage that propelled XBB.1.5 to global dominance. The study thus establishes that successful variants must evolve under dual constraint: reducing vulnerability to neutralization while maintaining or improving their efficiency in infecting cells.

Implications for Public Health and Surveillance

This long-term cohort study offers several important implications. It provides a molecular epidemiological explanation for the seemingly contradictory clinical observation of mild-but-prolonged illness, linking it directly to lower antibody efficacy. Furthermore, it definitively shows that pre-existing population immunity is a primary driver of viral evolution.

“These findings emphasize that our immune history actively shapes the virus's future,” the authors noted. “Monitoring must therefore account for both immune escape potential and changes in receptor binding, as these combined traits define the next successful variant.”

This understanding reinforces the need for alert genomic surveillance that tracks these dual characteristics. It also provides a data-driven foundation for designing improved vaccination strategies, potentially focusing on antigens that elicit broad protection against evolving viral fitness landscapes.

 

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Reference

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s44466-025-00020-2

 

About Immunity & Inflammation

Immunity & Inflammation is a newly launched open-access journal co-published by the Chinese Society for Immunology and Springer Nature under the leadership of Editors-in-Chief Prof. Xuetao Cao and Prof. Jules A. Hoffmann. Immunity & Inflammation aims to publish major scientific questions and cutting-edge advances that explore groundbreaking discoveries and insights across the spectrum of immunity and inflammation, from basic science to translational and clinical research.
Website: https://link.springer.com/journal/44466

 

About Authors

Prof. Genhong Cheng from UCLA

Prof. Cheng is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics at UCLA and a specially appointed professor at the Guangzhou Laboratory. He serves as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. He has received numerous awards including the Stohlman Award from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. His interdisciplinary research spans infection, immunity, cancer, and metabolism.

 

Dr. Lulan Wang from UCLA

Dr. Wang is a postdoctoral researcher at UCLA. He is a recipient of training grants from the National Institutes of Health and of the Amazon AWS DDI Award. His research focuses on epidemiology, vaccinology, and artificial intelligence applications.

 

Funding information

This project was supported by the Research Funds from US National Institute of Health (R01AI158154-01).

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DOI

10.1007/s44466-025-00020-2 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Impacts of neutralizing antibody responses on SARS-CoV-2 evolution and its associated disease progression

COI Statement

The corresponding author Genhong Cheng is Deputy Editor of the journal Immunity & Inflammation. However, he was not involved in the peer-review or decision-making process for this manuscript. The authors declare no other competing interests.

The hidden money behind deep-sea mining

Serdar Vardar

DW

January 31, 2026

A DW investigation traces the hidden financial web behind deep-sea mining — an industry scientists say remains poorly understood, yet capable of causing irreversible harm to oceans worldwide.

The deep sea is home to a vast number of unknown species but could also be a future source of critical minerals

Image: Kim Jens Bauer/PantherMedia/IMAGO


More than 20 financial institutions worldwide have publicly vowed not to finance deep-sea mining — an activity scientists say could cause irreversible harm to ocean ecosystems. However, a DW investigation has found that some have invested at least $684 million (€581 million) in companies linked to the industry.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are flowing into companies racing to extract nickel, cobalt, and copper for batteries and other industrial uses from deposits buried thousands of meters below the ocean surface — an environment where scientific knowledge remains limited. Less than 0.001% of the seafloor has been explored.

Among the investors are some of the world's largest financial institutions — including Deutsche Bank, UBS, Credit Suisse, Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas — according to DW's analysis of company filings compiled by Greenpeace Germany's investigation unit.

Banks invested in deep-sea mining industry

UBS AG

$164,777,396

$222,113,261

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc

$161,166,771

$219,623,226

Credit Agricole Group

$99,639,890

$101,189,595

Deutsche Bank AG

$62,387,989

$67,610,238

BNP Paribas SA

$50,598,541

$58,663,438

Credit Suisse Group AG

The investments come as the United States pushes to advance deep-sea mining as a future source of critical minerals. At the same time, some 40 countries have already announced a moratorium on the practice, arguing the environmental risks for these critical ecosystems need to be properly assessed.

The deep sea is "home to incredible life that is fragile, yet essential to the planet," Diva Amon, a marine biologist and scientific advisor at the University of California, told DW. "We don't yet understand what we're planning to destroy, and once it's gone, we can't bring it back."

'It's greenwashing' — when pledges and investments diverge

When contacted by DW, Deutsche Bank and Credit Agricole said their commitments apply to financing specific projects, not to investments in companies. Critics argue this distinction allows banks to avoid directly funding individual seabed-mining operations while continuing to invest in companies preparing to mine — akin to refusing to finance an oil drilling site for climate reasons but still buying shares in the drilling company.

The other banks did not respond to DW's questions.

"It's greenwashing," said Mauricio Vargas, a former investment strategist turned financial expert at Greenpeace. "Banks want to avoid negative PR related to environmental controversies."

Vargas added that banks often rely on technicalities and small-print exceptions, counting on the public not fully understanding the implications of their investment policies.

Andy Whitmore of the Deep-Sea Mining Campaign said the gap between banks' public commitments and their investments often reflects internal incentives.

"Their policies are carefully worded," he said, adding any commitments are often made in good faith, "but there are pressures within banks to invest in areas deemed as potentially profitable, and/or mis-sold as profitable." Accordingly, commitments are not always applied uniformly across large institutions.

But some banks, such as one of Norway's largest financial groups, Storebrand, have managed it. DW found the group recently divested millions of dollars from companies linked to deep-sea mining.

A Storebrand spokesperson told DW the decision followed the precautionary principle, which prioritizes avoiding harm in the face of scientific uncertainty.

"Storebrand will not invest in companies involved in deep-sea mining until we have more scientific knowledge on the impacts of these activities," they said.
When green commitments contradict short-term incentives

Goldman Sachs, on the other hand, has no public policy opposing deep-sea mining. Still, the Wall Street giant markets itself as a leader in environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing.

DW found it holds €187 million in stakes across companies enabling deep-sea mining. The company did not respond to requests for comment.

Experts say the public could pressure governments to divest pensions from companies linked to deep-sea mining

Image: Michal Kamaryt/CTK Photo/IMAGO

"Goldman Sachs is one of the biggest wealth managers in the world, and what it does matters," said Tariq Fancy, former chief investment officer for sustainable investing at BlackRock, which manages around $10 trillion in assets.

"It's much cheaper to paint yourself green than to actually be green," Fancy added. With time frames for high returns "the shortest they've been in decades," he said, many CEOs operate on five-year timelines, making it rational to "squeeze every last penny and then use philanthropy as reputation laundering."

While ESG can "make differences at the edges," Fancy said, "the real change has to come from political reform and stronger regulation."

Taxpayer money flowing to private deep-sea mining companies

DW also analyzed investment data compiled by a Washington-based nonprofit, the Anti-Corruption Data Collective (ACDC). The analysis found that taxpayer money from countries that officially support a precautionary pause on seabed mining was invested in companies linked to the industry.

Retirement savings are also on the hook. The Triton IV private-equity fund draws money from public pension funds across Europe and Canada, even as the governments behind it publicly oppose deep-sea mining. The fund managed subsea firms DeepOcean and Adepth Minerals until spring 2025 before selling the group to a new Triton-managed investment entity.

Public pension exposure to deep-sea mining despite moratoriums

Table with 3 columns and 8 rows. (column headers with buttons are sortable)

California Public Employees' Retirement System	US	$101.11 million
California State Teachers' Retirement System	US	$67.40 million
Greater Manchester Pension Fund	UK	$19.76 million
Local Pensions Partnership	UK	Not disclosed
Pensioenfonds PNO Media	FR	Not disclosed
Industriens Pensionsforsikring	NR	Not disclosed
Sjätte AP-fonden	SWD	Not disclosed (divested in 2022)
CPP Investments (Canada Pension Plan Investment Board)		$263 million (divested in 2022)

Source: Pitchbook

Triton disputed the characterization, saying that DeepOcean is not a seabed-mining company and that its investment in Adepth Minerals is limited, regulated and not central to its strategy.

For Whitmore, accountability is the most effective way to push for change — especially for pension funds. "They invest on behalf of the public for the future," he said, adding that they must therefore take the potential environmental risks of deep-sea mining seriously.

"It is important for pension funds to join the growing number of financiers and insurers who are excluding deep-sea mining," he continued. So far, no pension funds have made such a pledge.

Some governments are drawing firmer lines, though. Norway, a country with several companies positioning themselves to mine the deep sea, has agreed not to issue mining licenses in its national waters until at least 2029. At the same time, 40 countries now support moratoriums or precautionary pauses on mining in international waters amid uncertainty about how it could affect marine life.

 Polymetallic nodules found on the ocean floor

Chemical composition in percentage

Most deep-sea species haven't yet been discovered

"The deep sea is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet," said marine biologist Diva Amon, who has led deep-sea research expeditions around the world. Far below the surface of the Pacific, Amon has seen sharks glowing in perpetual darkness and corals that are thousands of years old. But many deep-ocean species remain largely unknown to humans.

Millions of dollars are flowing into companies preparing to mine the deep sea despite the potential environmental risks

Image: Shanghai Jiao Tong University/Xinhua/picture alliance

"About 90% of deep-sea species still lack formal names," Amon said, adding that removing polymetallic nodules — potato-sized rocks containing many of the critical metals targeted by mining companies — could cause irreversible damage on million-year timescales.

Peter Thomson, UN Special Envoy for the Ocean, called for a 10-year moratorium on deep-sea mining to allow science to catch up and protect the "common heritage of humankind." The UN's finance initiative has also said there is "no foreseeable way" that financing the practice can align with the sustainable use of the ocean.

Early evidence from trial operations has reinforced those warnings. A recent study funded by leading deep-sea mining firm The Metals Company (TMC) found that test mining in the Pacific reduced seafloor abundance and biodiversity by more than a third.


But scientists say the risks extend beyond biodiversity loss. Some deep-sea microbes are already used in medicine, including enzymes for SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests and compounds now being studied in cancer trials. Mining could eliminate similar organisms before they are even identified.

"There is still so much the science doesn't know when it comes to the deep sea," Amon said. "If more people knew about its wonders, we wouldn't even be talking about mining it."

Edited by: Anke Rasper

The reporting for this investigation was supported by a grant from the Investigative Journalism for Europe (IJ4EU) fund.

Serdar Vardar Reporter working for DW's Environment desk.https://twitter.com/SerdarVardar_

 

Integrated health surveillance and early warning systems in China under the One Health perspective: progress and challenges

Shanghai Jiao Tong University Journal Center

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The One Health surveillance system integrates climate, wildlife, livestock, and human health monitoring through a central hub to identify zoonotic disease spillover pathways and enable early warning and rapid public health response.

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Credit: Zhichao Li, Dongliang Li, Jinwei Dong, Qixu Zhu, Youyi Zuo, Juan Pu, Lu Wang, Weipan Lei, Jun Cai, Qu Cheng, Yuzhe Li, Jing Yang, Yang Ju, Zhirui Wu.

From the 2002–2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) to the COVID-19 pandemic, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1, and hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD), China has experienced multiple emerging infectious disease (EID) events that have profoundly impacted public health and society. These outbreaks have underscored the urgent need for early detection, surveillance, and effective public health responses to prevent and control the occurrence and spread of EIDs. In the face of these increasingly complex health threats, traditional single-domain surveillance networks have proven inadequate. In the systematic review titled "Integrated health surveillance and early warning systems in China under the One Health perspective: progress and challenges," a research team from more than 10 institutions outlines the "environment–animal–human" integrated health surveillance and early warning framework that China is constructing. This framework aims to break down data silos between meteorological, wildlife, livestock, and human health sectors, enabling early warning, precise monitoring, and coordinated responses to public health emergencies—particularly zoonotic diseases.

Current structure of China's surveillance system

Meteorological monitoring network: Based on the Global/Regional Assimilation and Prediction System (GRAPES) model, the China Meteorological Administration has established a comprehensive numerical prediction system. This system includes global deterministic forecasting, regional ensemble forecasting, high-resolution mesoscale forecasting, and specialized typhoon forecasting, providing early warnings for climate-related health risks.

Animal disease surveillance network: The National Forestry and Grassland Administration has established 742 national terrestrial wildlife epidemic source and disease monitoring stations across the country, forming a multi-level surveillance network. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs conducts systematic monitoring and compulsory vaccination for livestock and poultry through national, provincial, municipal, and county-level veterinary agencies.

Human disease surveillance network: China's National Notifiable Infectious Disease Reporting System (NIDRIS) was launched nationwide, enabling real-time online reporting of notifiable infectious diseases. Building upon this, the China Infectious Disease Automated-alert and Response System (CIDARS) automatically detects abnormal signals based on historical data models and sends alert messages to grassroots disease control agencies.

Challenges and data barriers

Despite its extensive scale, the current system faces multiple challenges: inefficient data sharing mechanisms and persistent information barriers between departments; insufficient real-time early warning capabilities, especially in remote areas where monitoring technology and equipment lag; low integration of technical platforms, with meteorological, animal, and human health surveillance largely relying on independent systems, lacking intelligent comprehensive analysis and warning capabilities. Additionally, professional training, public participation, and cross-departmental policy coordination require strengthening.

Pathway to the future: building an Intelligent Integrated Early Warning System

The study outlines a clear upgrade path:

Enhance multi-source surveillance capacity: optimize the existing infectious disease reporting system, with the goal of establishing a comprehensive online reporting network covering all medical institutions by 2030. The surveillance scope will be expanded to include vectors, host animals, and environmental risk factors.

Advance digital intelligent early warning: develop a national integrated platform for disease surveillance, early warning, and emergency command. Utilize big data, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing technologies to develop models for anomaly detection, outbreak prediction, and decision support.

Strengthen technical and human resource foundations: establish interdisciplinary expert teams, enhance laboratory testing capacity (aiming for BSL-3 laboratories at the provincial level and BSL-2 coverage at the municipal level), and provide cross-departmental "One Health" joint training for frontline personnel.

Reinforce governance and international cooperation: strengthen government leadership and clarify cross-departmental responsibilities, prioritize investment in high-risk regions and critical infrastructure, and enhance global health security collaboration through data sharing, joint surveillance, and personnel exchanges with global and regional partners.

Bridging concept to practice

Currently, China is exploring the establishment of a National Intelligent Syndromic Surveillance System (NISSS). This system aims to integrate diverse real-time data streams—including hospital information systems, internet data, and multi-sector information flows—and employ geographic information systems and artificial intelligence analytics modules. The goal is to achieve early assessment and warning of potential outbreaks before cases receive laboratory confirmation.

Learning from experiences in responding to outbreaks like SARS and COVID-19, China is committed to transforming the "One Health" concept from an academic idea into operational surveillance and early warning infrastructure. This path toward a more resilient public health system is not only crucial for China but also offers a reference for integrated solutions to complex global health threats.

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Journal

Science in One Health

DOI

10.1016/j.soh.2025.100132 

Method of Research

News article

Article Title

Integrated health surveillance and early warning systems in China under the One Health perspective: progress and challenges