Activists staged a protest outside the UN headquarters in Geneva as the World Health Assembly met, using giant balloon figures of WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Bill Gates to criticise the new pandemic treaty talks.

The CitizenGo group has framed the treaty as a threat to sovereignty, while the WHO says the draft text does not give it authority to impose lockdowns, vaccine mandates or border rules on member states.

The dispute has become a familiar clash over trust in public health policy.