By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters), -The World Health Organization (WHO), on Wednesday, agreed to begin negotiations to create an international pact for the prevention and control of future pandemics. The announcement comes as the world prepares to fight the Omicron strain of the coronavirus.

This agreement will strengthen measures to fight and prevent pandemics. It is anticipated to be available in May 2024. The agreements cover everything from data sharing, genome sequencing of emerging virus to possible vaccines or drugs derived through research.

The Wednesday decision was reached by unanimous consent at a special ministerial gathering of the 194 member nations of U.N. Health body. It received praise from all delegations after the three-day meeting.

Sally Mansfield from Australia, the ambassador, co-chaired and said, “The text we have before us is the result of extensive discussions. Frank exchanges. And of compromises.”

Let us work together to accomplish the difficult tasks ahead.

Diplomats stated that the European Union (EU), along with 70 other countries, had sought to reach an agreement on an international, legally binding treaty. However, Brazil, India, and the United States were not willing to sign such a deal.

SARS CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19. More than 262.22 Million people have been confirmed infected.

WHO states that China is yet to share some of its initial data, which might have helped pinpoint the origin of this virus.

The United States welcomed and cosponsored the announcement of the negotiations for the accord.

In a Wednesday statement, the U.N mission in Geneva stated that “this momentous decision represents our collective responsibility for working together to advance healthcare security and make the global system stronger and responsive.”

It said that the United States had committed to working alongside other countries to create “targeted changes” to the 2005 International Health Regulations.

It stated that the measures were intended to increase compliance and implementation on topics such as timely information sharing and early warning alerts.