Font Size: The WHO-led team investigating COVID-19 lacked the power “to demand transparency and accountability,” according to an article in Foreign Policy. A new pandemic treaty would help inspectors gain access, with sanctions to enforce cooperation, supporters say. Such a treaty might have prevented the pandemic, according to a WHO advisory committee member. Critics of the World Health Organization-led team’s report on the origins of COVID-19 have several proposals to improve the investigation of pandemics, including a new treaty that would empower WHO to do a better investigation. The U.S. and other nations have criticized the WHO report on COVID-19’s origin released on March 30 as lacking scientific rigor due to China blocking access to information, with some proposing that the WHO appoint a different team or calling on the U.S. National Institutes of Health to take over the investigation.