WHO chief urges countries to quickly seal pandemic deal

GENEVA, May 27 (AFP): The World Health Organization chief on Monday urged countries to nail down a landmark global agreement on handling of future pandemics after they missed a hard deadline.

Scarred by Covid-19 -- which killed millions, shredded economies and crippled health systems -- nations have spent two years trying to forge binding commitments on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

Negotiators failed to clinch a deal ahead of this week's World Health Assembly -- the annual gathering of WHO's 194 member states -- the deadline for concluding the talks.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus opened the assembly Monday, saying he was confident that an agreement would be secured.