The COVID-19 pandemic raises serious questions about the operation of international agreements for accessing and sharing viruses potentially delaying emergency responses. The access and benefit-sharing (ABS) frameworks under the United Nations' Convention on Biological Diversity and its Nagoya Protocol apply to the collection and use of the COVID-19 pathogen SARS-CoV-2. These frameworks aim to ensure countries of origin reap some of the benefits from the use of their resources. Using real-world examples, we demonstrate conceptual and definitional ambiguities relating to "country of origin" that make not only operationalising the ABS scheme for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use objectives difficult but may also undermine public health emergency responses. Understanding how COVID-19 fits (or does not fit) within ABS laws is a valuable exercise for international policy-makers trying to determine how best to operationalise pathogen ABS, an issue currently under examination at the World Health Organization and critical to responding to pandemics.