an expert group prepared by World To help investigate the origins of the health organization coronavirus The pandemic says further research is needed to determine how COVID-19 first began, including a more detailed analysis of the likelihood that it was a laboratory accident. The stance marks a sharp reversal of the UN health agency’s initial assessment of the pandemic’s origins, when it concluded last year that it was highly unlikely that COVID-19 was transmitted from a laboratory to humans.
In a report released on Thursday, the WHO expert group said key pieces of data were still missing to explain how the pandemic began. The scientists said the group would be open to any and all scientific evidence that would be available to allow for more comprehensive testing of all pertinent hypotheses in the future. It noted that since laboratory accidents have triggered some outbreaks in the past, the highly politicized theory cannot be discounted. Former US President Donald Trump has repeatedly speculated without evidence that COVID-19 started in a Chinese lab. He accused the WHO of colluding with China to cover up the initial outbreak, citing the country’s continued public praise by the UN health agency.
The WHO’s expert group said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had sent two letters to senior Chinese government officials in February, requesting information, including details of the initial human cases of COVID-19 in the city of Wuhan . Experts said that no study was provided to WHO that assessed the possibility of COVID-19 being a laboratory leak. He said his understanding of how the coronavirus emerged was limited by factors, including that not all of the research presented by Chinese scientists on the virus has been published.
The scientists said several avenues of research were needed, including studies evaluating the role of wild animals, thought to be natural reservoirs of COVID-19, and environmental studies in places where the virus may have spread first, such as Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan. Last March, the WHO released a report about the origins of COVID-19 after a highly choreographed trip to China by international scientists, concluding that the disease most likely jumped from bats to humans and suggested There was no evidence for a laboratory connection. ,
Yet after much criticism, including from some scientists on the WHO team, Tedros acknowledged it was too early to rule out a laboratory leak and said he called on China to be more transparent in sharing information. In its new report, the WHO said it had been granted access to data, including unpublished blood samples from more than 40,000 people in Wuhan in 2019 who were tested for COVID-19 antibodies. None were found, suggesting that the virus was not spreading widely before it was first identified in late December of that year.
WHO experts called for several studies to be conducted, including testing wild animals to find out which species can host COVID-19. He also said there should be an investigation into the scientifically dubious theory of cold chain supply theory, which has been put forward by China, arguing that traces of COVID-19 on frozen packaging are causing the outbreak, rather than any domestic source. Were. To test whether COVID-19 could have been the result of a laboratory accident, WHO experts said research should be conducted with staff in laboratories tasked with managing and implementing biosafety and biosafety, adding that Will provide more information about how viruses are related to COVID. -19 managed.
China has previously dismissed the suggestion that COVID-19 began in a laboratory and believed the virus may have originated in US facilities, which were also known to conduct research on coronaviruses in animals. The Chinese government has said it supports the discovery of the origin of the pandemic, but should focus on another country. Last August, WHO scientists lamented that the search for the origins of the pandemic had stalled and that the window of opportunity was rapidly closing. He warned that it is becoming increasingly difficult to collect data that is at least two years old.
Several public health experts have called for a global commission to investigate the origins of COVID-19, saying the WHO lacks both the political authority and independence to determine how the pandemic began.
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