The World Health Organization (WHO) today announced a panel to review the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking to member states in Geneva, the head of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, and former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf would be co-chairs of the review panel, which will be called the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response.

Dr Tedros said this was a time for "self-reflection, to look at the world we live in and to find ways to strengthen our collaboration as we work together to save lives and bring the pandemic under control".

The WHO has been under pressure for some time to review its handling of the pandemic, amid criticism, most notably from the US, that it was slow to respond to the initial outbreak in China, and too close to the Chinese government.

The evaluation announced by the WHO (originally approved at the World Health Assembly in May) will look not just at the WHO’s response, but at the response of individual countries as well.

Earlier this week the US formally notified the United Nations of its intention to leave the WHO.