CCOUC Director Professor Emily Chan participated in the World Health Organization ad hoc consultation on COVID-19 new variants – knowledge gaps and research priorities via Zoom on 12 January 2021 to discuss a research and development agenda in response to existing and other emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2.

The key objectives of this global consultation organised by WHO R&D Blueprint were to identify the critical research questions related to variants and agree on a research approach to address them for these and other emerging variants.

The consultation was officiated by WHO Director-General Dr Tedros. It covered what is known about the emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2, the knowledge gaps, the key research questions involved, the research strategy, and the best way to collaborate across disciplines to address this research agenda.