Facing intensifying stress for a brand new, extra in-depth investigation of the Covid-19 pandemic origins, the World Health Organization mentioned Friday that it was nonetheless awaiting knowledgeable steering.
US President Joe Biden this week ordered the US intelligence group to research whether or not the Covid-19 virus first emerged in China from an animal supply or from a laboratory accident.
The transfer hints at rising impatience with ready for a conclusive WHO investigation into how the pandemic that has killed greater than 3.5 million individuals worldwide started.
But the UN well being company mentioned Friday it was nonetheless ready for suggestions from a group of WHO technical consultants on the way to transfer ahead.
“The technical group will put together a proposal for the following research that may must be carried out and can current that to the director common,” spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told reporters.
‘No timeline’
“He will then work with member states about the next steps,” she mentioned, acknowledging “there isn’t any timeline.”
The WHO finally managed to send a team of independent, international experts to Wuhan in January, more than a year after Covid-19 first surfaced there in late 2019, to help probe the pandemic origins.
But in their long-delayed report published in late March, the international team and their Chinese counterparts drew no firm conclusions, instead ranking a number of hypotheses according to how likely they believe they were.
The report said the virus jumping from bats to humans via an intermediate animal was the most probable scenario, while a theory involving the virus leaking from a laboratory was “extremely unlikely”.
But the investigation and report have confronted criticism for missing transparency and entry, and for not evaluating the lab-leak idea extra deeply — a mere 440 phrases of the report had been devoted to discussing and dismissing it.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has additionally continued to insist that every one theories stay on the desk and additional investigation is required.
Long dismissed as a kooky right-wing conspiracy idea, and vehemently rejected by Beijing, the concept Covid-19 emerged from a lab leak in Wuhan, China has been gaining growing momentum within the United States.
While not suggesting {that a} lab leak was essentially the supply, a lot of distinguished worldwide scientists have mentioned a deeper, extra scientific take a look at the speculation was wanted.
WHO believes that “additional research will likely be wanted in a variety of areas, together with on the early detection of circumstances and clusters, and the potential roles of animal markets, transmission through the meals chain and the laboratory incident speculation,” Chaib mentioned Friday.
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