The World Health Organization on Sunday reiterated its commitment to trace the origins of the COVID-19 virus that has killed millions of people worldwide over the past three years.
On completion of three years since the deadly virus was declared a “pandemic”, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisted that the organization will uncover the origin of the virus. WHO officials have an ethical duty to assess all hypotheses about its origin, he said.
WHO chief said, “3 years into the #COVID19 emergency, too many lives have been lost. Too many are still suffering, including #LongCOVID. We will not stop demanding equal access to life-saving equipment.” do.”
He said, “Understanding the origins of #COVID19 and all hypotheses remain to be explored: -a scientific imperative, to help us prevent future outbreaks -a moral imperative, for the millions of people who have died and who are living with #longcovid,” he said.
Multiple theories on virus origin
Significantly, this virus took the whole world in its grip in 2020 – months after it was first reported in Wuhan province of China. Since then, several theories have been reported in the media, with the majority of reports declaring that the virus originated from China. Meanwhile, many allege that China has a huge market for animals where mammals such as bats and other spices are sold in the open. Several reports claimed that it originated from the same region.
However, China has rejected the principles on several occasions. A team from the World Health Organization also visited the site but did not publish any concrete report against Beijing.
Early last month, the US Department of Energy re-evaluated the lab leak theory and claimed that the deadly virus had leaked from a lab in China’s Wuhan city in 2019. The US claimed that China “deliberately” did not make it public, resulting in the killing of millions of people worldwide.
China rejects the allegations
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning Mao insisted during a regular press briefing that the administration had already shared “substantial data” and “research results” on the origin of the virus, which eventually contributed to global virus tracing research .
“China had shared the most data and research results on virus tracing and made important contributions to the global virus tracing research,” Mao told reporters.
China slammed the US government
In addition, the spokesperson accused the Biden administration of disseminating fake claims on the virus to discredit China and said the action would only damage America’s own credibility.
Mao said in response to complaints from US officials and members of Congress, “Politicizing the issue of virus tracing will not smear China, but only damage America’s own credibility.” China is not fully cooperating.
His comments came amid persistent questions about how the virus that has killed more than 6.8 million people worldwide first emerged.