Given the intense isolation that nations are now likely to experience when they disclose that they’re host to a menacing outbreak of a novel disease, and the economic repercussions they’ll incur, we can expect countries to adjust their behaviors. They’ll be even more reluctant to reveal the existence of a new pathogen or to share strains and sequence information. There’s currently no requirement, under any international law or convention, that can compel nations to share samples of pathogens in a public health crisis.37 To this day, China has never shared the initial strains of SARS-CoV-2,
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