Covid-19: WHO conducts first virtual meeting amid rising US-China tension

The United States and Europe are at loggerheads over future vaccine access, while Washington has also accused China of trying to steal US immunisation research

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday kicked off its first ever virtual assembly, but fears abound that US-China tensions could derail the strong action needed to address the coronavirus pandemic.

The World Health Assembly, which has been trimmed from the usual three weeks to just two days, Monday and Tuesday, is expected to focus almost solely on Covid-19, which in a matter of months has killed more than 310,000 globally, and infected nearly 4.7 million.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the event, lamenting that a number of countries had ignored the recommendations of the WHO.

"Different countries have