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A group of experts set up by the World Health Organization (WHO) to help investigate the origin of the coronavirus pandemic said further research is needed to determine how COVID-19 started, including a more detailed analysis of the possibility of a laboratory accident.
This stance marks a sharp reversal of the UN Health Agency’s initial assessment of the origin of the pandemic. The WHO last year concluded that it was “extremely unlikely” that COVID-19 had spread to humans from the laboratory.
Many scientists suspect that the coronavirus has been transmitted to humans by bats, through other animals. In the report published on Thursday, the WHO expert group said that “key data” were still missing, which would explain how the pandemic started.
The scientists said the group “will remain open to all scientific evidence that will be accessible in the future, in order to enable comprehensive testing of all reasonable hypotheses.”
Identifying the source of the disease in animals usually takes years. It took scientists about 15 years to find the species of bats that were naturally reserved for SARS, a cousin of COVID-19.
The WHO team of experts also noted that, given that laboratory accidents have caused several epidemics in the past, this theory, highly politicized, cannot be refuted.
Former United States President Donald Trump has repeatedly speculated – without evidence – that COVID-19 was launched in a Chinese laboratory. He also accused the WHO of “secret cooperation” with China to cover up the initial epidemic, referring to the fact that the WHO has consistently publicly praised the country.
The WHO team of experts said that the director general of the UN health agency, Tedros Adhanom Gebrejesus, sent two letters to senior Chinese government officials in February, requesting information, including details of most cases. early human COVID-19 in the city of Wuhan. It is unclear whether the Chinese responded.
The experts said that no study had been submitted to the WHO, which would assess the possibility of the spread of COVID-19, as a result of a leak from the laboratory.
They said their understanding of how the coronavirus appeared was limited to a number of factors, including the fact that not all of the research presented by Chinese scientists had been published.
Jamie Metzl, who is a member of the WHO Independent Advisory Group, suggested that the Group of Seven industrialized nations set up its own investigation into the origins of COVID-19, saying the WHO lacked political authority, scientific expertise. and the independence to conduct such a critical assessment.
Metzl welcomed the WHO call for further investigations into the possibility of a leak from the lab, but said it was not enough.
“Tragically, the Chinese government continues to refuse to share raw data and will not allow the necessary and complete audit of the Wuhan laboratory,” he said.
“Gaining access to this information is essential to understanding how this pandemic started and to prevent future pandemics.”
WHO scientists say a number of research pathways are needed, including studies assessing the role of wildlife, which are considered to be COVID-19’s natural reservoir, as well as environmental studies in places where the virus may have spread to first time, such as the seafood market in Huanan, Wuhan.
In March 2021, the WHO published a report on the origins of COVID-19, following a very formal visit by international scientists to China. The report concluded that the disease was most likely spread to humans by bats and that there was no evidence to show a connection to the laboratory.
However, after significant criticism, including from some scientists from the WHO team, the head of the WHO, Tedros Gebrejesus, admitted that it was “premature” to exclude leakage from the laboratory and said he had asked China to be more transparent in the exchange of information.
In its new report, the WHO said experts gained access to data involving unpublished blood samples from more than 40,000 people in Wuhan, in 2019. The samples were tested for antibodies to COVID-19. None were found, suggesting the virus did not spread until it was first identified in late December of that year.
WHO experts have called for a number of studies, including wildlife testing, to find out which species could host COVID-19.
To investigate whether the COVID-19 pandemic may have been the result of a laboratory accident, WHO experts said the search should be carried out “with laboratory staff in charge of managing and implementing biological safety”, saying this would provide more information on how COVID-19-related viruses are managed.
Earlier, China described as “unfounded” the suggestion that COVID-19 originated in the laboratory and said the virus could have originated in US facilities, which were also known to be investigating coronaviruses in animals.
The Chinese government said it supports the search for the origin of the pandemic, but that other countries should be in focus.
WHO-affiliated scientists warned in August 2021 that the search for the origin of the pandemic had stalled and that the window of opportunity was “closing fast.” They warned that collecting data, which is now at least two years old, is becoming increasingly difficult.
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