The World Health Organization on Friday proposed the second phase of a study into the origins of the coronavirus in China, including audits of laboratories and markets in Wuhan, calling for transparency from authorities.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus presented the plan to member states, saying the lack of raw data on the spread of COVID-19 in China in the first days was hampering investigations.
In remarks released by the agency, he said the second phase of work would require studies of human, wildlife and animal markets in Wuhan, including the Huanan Wholesale Market.
“Audits of relevant laboratories and research institutions working in the area of early human cases identified in December 2019” will also be required, Tedros said.
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Diplomats said China, which has opposed withdrawal by international scientists, objected to the closed-door talks, saying: “This plan is not the basis for future studies.”
A WHO-led team spent four weeks in and around the central city of Wuhan with Chinese researchers and said in a joint report in March that the virus was possibly transmitted from bats to humans via another animal.
But countries including the United States and some scientists have called for further investigation, particularly at the Wuhan Institute of Virology which was researching bats.
“Tracing the origins of this virus is a scientific exercise that must be kept free of politics. For this to happen, we expect China to support this next stage of the scientific process by sharing all relevant data in a spirit of transparency, Tedros said. .
China has called the theory that the virus may have escaped from the Wuhan laboratory “absurd” and repeatedly said that “politicizing” the issue would hinder investigations.
At a regular news briefing on Friday, asked about Tedros’s previous comments on the need for more data from China, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said some were unable to copy the data or leave China because it contained Personal information was included.
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