WHO Chief Pushes China for ‘Full Access’ to Determine COVID’s Origins

A woman undergoes a COVID-19 test at a vaccination center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 12 September 2023. (EPA)

10:30-17 September 2023 AD ـ 03 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1445 AH

WHO Chief Pushes China for ‘Full Access’ to Determine COVID’s Origins

A woman undergoes a COVID-19 test at a vaccination center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 12 September 2023. (EPA)

The chief of the World Health Organization urged Beijing to offer more information on the origins of COVID-19 and is ready to send a second team to probe the matter, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

"We're pressing China to give full access, and we are asking countries to raise it during their bilateral meetings — to urge Beijing to cooperate," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the newspaper.

The WHO chief's comments come as health authorities and pharmaceutical companies across the world have been racing to update vaccines to combat newer emerging coronavirus variants.

Ghebreyesus has for long been pressing China to share its information about the origins of COVID-19, saying that until that happened all hypotheses remained on the table.

The virus was first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, with many suspecting it spread in a live animal market before fanning out around the world and killing nearly 7 million people.

Japanese Woman who Was World's Oldest Person at 116 Has Died

(FILES) This handout file photo taken on May 23, 2024 and provided to AFP on August 22, 2024 by the Ashiya City government shows Japanese woman Tomiko Itooka as she celebrates her 116th birthday, in the city of Ashiya, Hyogo prefecture. (Photo by Handout / Courtesy of Ashiya City / AFP)

Asharq Al Awsat

09:51-4 January 2025 AD ـ 05 Rajab 1446 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

09:51-4 January 2025 AD ـ 05 Rajab 1446 AH

Japanese Woman who Was World's Oldest Person at 116 Has Died

Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman who was the world’s oldest person according to Guinness World Records, has died, an Ashiya city official said Saturday. She was 116.
Yoshitsugu Nagata, an official in charge of elderly policies, said Itooka died on Dec. 29 at a care home in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, central Japan.
Itooka, who loved bananas and a yogurt-flavored Japanese drink called Calpis, was born on May 23, 1908. She became the oldest person last year following the death of 117-year-old Maria Branyas, according to the Gerontology Research Group.
When she was told she was at the top of the World Supercentenarian Rankings List, she simply replied, “Thank you.”
When Itooka celebrated her birthday last year, she received flowers, a cake and a card from the mayor, The Associated Press reported.
Born in Osaka, Itooka was a volleyball player in high school, and long had a reputation for a sprightly spirit, Nagata said. She climbed the 3,067-meter (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake twice.
She married at 20, and had two daughters and two sons, according to Guinness.
Itooka managed the office of her husband’s textile factory during World War II. She lived alone in Nara after her husband died in 1979.
She is survived by one son and one daughter, and five grandchildren. A funeral service was held with family and friends, according to Nagata.
According to the Gerontology Research Group, the world's oldest person is now 116-year-old Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, who was born 16 days after Itooka.

WHO Chief Pushes China for ‘Full Access’ to Determine COVID’s Origins

WHO Chief Pushes China for ‘Full Access’ to Determine COVID’s Origins

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Japanese Woman who Was World's Oldest Person at 116 Has Died

Japanese Woman who Was World's Oldest Person at 116 Has Died

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