The head of WHO today insisted that the theory Covid-19 emerged in a laboratory in Wuhan has not been dismissed following a controversial fact-finding mission to China.
The investigation to Wuhan, where the first cases were detected, failed to identify the source of the virus but appeared to disregard the theory that it leaked from a virology laboratory in the city.
However, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus today said that following the ‘very important scientific exercise … all hypotheses remain open and require further analysis and studies.’
It comes after Peter Embarek, the leader of the WHO team, this week concluded it was ‘extremely unlikely’ that the virus emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The head of WHO today insisted that the theory Covid-19 emerged in a laboratory in Wuhan has not been dismissed following a controversial fact-finding mission to China. Pictured: WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Shi Zhengli works with other researchers in a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province in February 2017
Speaking from Geneva today, Dr Tedros said: ‘Some questions have been raised as to whether some hypotheses have been discarded.
‘Having spoken with some members of the team, I wish to confirm that all hypotheses remain open and require further analysis and studies.
‘Some of that work may lie outside the remit and scope of this mission. We have always said that this mission would not find all the answers, but it has added important information that takes us closer to understanding the origins of the virus.
‘The mission achieved a better understanding of the early days of the pandemic, and identified areas for further analysis and research. And we will continue working to get the information we need to answer the questions that still need to be answered.’
It comes as it emerged China refused to provide WHO investigators with ‘raw, personalised data’ on early coronavirus cases that could help them figure out how and when the virus first began to spread.
Authorities reportedly refused requests to provide this data on 174 cases of Covid-19 that were identified from the early outbreak in December 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Dominic Dwyer, an Australian microbiologist on the WHO team, said: ‘They showed us a couple of examples, but that’s not the same as doing all of them, which is standard epidemiological investigation.
‘So then, you know, the interpretation of that data becomes more limited from our point of view, although the other side might see it as being quite good.’
It was said that China provided their own analysis of data on these cases, but would not provide the raw data which would have allowed WHO experts to carry out their own studies.
Earlier, Mr Embarek said it was ‘extremely unlikely’ the virus emerged from a lab in Wuhan, adding: ‘It is not in the hypotheses that we will suggest for future studies.’
The findings amount to an almost full backing of Beijing’s explanations for the source of the pandemic and will be a PR coup for the ruling communist party, which has repeatedly tried to pin the blame outside its borders.
It will also give ammunition to WHO’s critics, who feared the investigation would be used to give legitimacy to a Chinese white-washing exercise with possibly embarrassing or incriminating evidence hidden from investigators.
It is hardly the first time that the WHO has come under fire for uncritically parroting information from Beijing – ex-President Trump made the same allegations last year before pulling US funding, a move that President Biden has now pledged to reverse.
Dr Tedros has also come in for heavy criticism for his praise of China – describing its ‘commitment to transparency’ as ‘beyond words’ during the early stages of the outbreak, despite strong doubts about data coming from Beijing and a past history of covering up disease outbreaks.
It was also revealed that Dr Tedros received support from Beijing while in the running to become WHO chief, and that China has often donated large sums of money to governments or organisations that he has been a part of.
During his press conference, Dr Embarek also backed assertions from Beijing that there is no evidence of transmission ‘in Wuhan or elsewhere’ in China before December 2019 – despite multiple studies suggesting the virus was circulating globally months earlier than that.
Outlining the findings of his team’s month-long fact-finding mission, Dr Embarek said the team had failed to establish where the virus came from or how it first jumped into humans. Instead, he said the team had come up with four theories about its origins.
He said the most likely explanation is that the virus passed from its original host animal into an intermediary animal that comes into close contact with humans, before making the leap into people.
Intermediary animals could include frozen or chilled animal products sold at markets in Wuhan, including those imported from overseas, he said, outlining his second theory.
The next most-likely theory is that the virus jumped directly from its original host into humans, Dr Embarek said, putting forward bats as a likely source.
But, he said, humans and bats do not come into close contact in Wuhan and swabs of bats and various other animal species in China – including wild animals, pets, and farm animals – has failed to find the original source.
Dr Embarek called for more research to be carried out into all three of these theories, and said teams should be looking outside as well as inside of China’s borders.
Dr Tedros today said he hoped a summary report from the mission would be published next week, with the full final report to follow in the coming weeks.
Multiple countries have uncovered evidence that the virus was circulating months earlier than originally thought. While Beijing has tried to insist this proves the virus originated elsewhere, most scientists still think China was the origin – raising the prospect that communist officials simply hid evidence of the early spread
Chinese scientists and officials have been keen to point the finger of blame outside their own borders – variously suggesting that the virus could have originated in Bangladesh, the US, Greece, Australia, India, Italy, Czech Republic, Russia or Serbia