Sharjah24 – Reuters: Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday (November 15) that the world needs to be better prepared to probe the origins of diseases and welcomed the creation of a new World Health Organisation advisory group on dangerous pathogens.

The WHO last month established a new Scientific Advisory Group on the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) and called on China to supply the raw data needed for any new investigation. China has declined, citing patient privacy rules.

"We need to be better equipped when it comes to finding out where diseases and epidemics have originated," Merkel said at a summit organised by the WHO on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the same speech, she also voiced her support for more reliable financing of the U.N. health body and said she supported the creation of an international pandemic treaty.