The Lancet
Muhareb, Rania; Giacaman, Rita.
Introduction
As of March 25, 2020, WHO's online coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation dashboard reveals that the pandemic spans 195 countries and territories with 375 498 cases. With this rapid expansion of the pandemic comes a growing need to ensure that accurate and credible information is accessible to public health authorities, researchers, and the wider public. This has prompted WHO, institutions, and individuals to develop online tools to track the spread of the pandemic. Although WHO's emergency preparedness is informed by established principles of international law,
1 the multiplicity of actors has the potential to create confusion and barriers to accessing reliable and consistent data. These actors’ categorisation of countries and territories, which could be subject to geopolitical considerations, remains unaccountable to affected populations.
Keywords
Epidemiology