Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan is all set to take charge as the chairman of the Executive Board at the World Health Organization on May 22, PTI reported on Tuesday. The 194-nation World Health Assembly signed off on the proposal to appoint India’s nominee to the Executive Board on Tuesday, unidentified officials told the news agency.

Vardhan will be formally elected at the Executive Board meeting on May 22. However, his taking over the post is more of a formality. The WHO’s South East Asia group had unanimously decided last year that India would be elected a member state of the executive board for a three-year term. It was also decided at this meeting that New Delhi’s nominee would be the Executive Board chairman for the first year.

Vardhan will succeed Hiroki Nakatani of Japan. The chairman’s post is held by rotation for one year among regional groups. The minister will only be required to chair the 34-member Executive Board’s meetings. “It is not a full-time assignment… But Vardhan will be required to chair the executive board’s bi-annual meetings,” a senior government official told the Hindustan Times. The main meeting is usually in January while a shorter meeting is held in May.

The main functions of the Executive Board are to implement the decisions and policies of the Health Assembly and to advise it. Vardhan will be working closely with WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Addressing the 73rd World Health Assembly via video conferencing on Monday, Vardhan had said India took all the necessary steps well in time to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. Vardhan, who is at the forefront of India’s battle against Covid-19, had claimed that India has done well in dealing with the disease. As of Tuesday, India’s tally crossed 1 lakh cases with over 3,000 deaths.

At the Health Assembly, India, along with 61 nations, called for an “impartial” evaluation of WHO’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. According to a draft resolution proposed for the 73rd World Health Assembly meeting, the countries will seek to identify how the Sars-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 was transmitted from animals to humans. China’s president Xi Jinping said that his country would support a “comprehensive review” of the coronavirus pandemic after it been brought under control.

This is the first time that India has formally articulated its stand on the Covid-19 outbreak. In March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had backed reform in the WHO and referred to the need for transparency and accountability.

China has been accused of concealing information about the virus in the early days of the outbreak. WHO and its Director General Ghebreyesus have been blamed for playing along with China.

Most experts believe the virus originated in a market that traded in wildlife in Wuhan. However, it is unclear how the virus passed from animals to people. Maria van Kerkhove, a WHO specialist in viruses, said it was important to determine this intermediate host.