An expert group drafted by the World Health Organisation to help investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic says further research is needed to determine how COVID-19 first began, including a more detailed analysis of the possibility it was a laboratory accident. That 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 extremely unlikely that COVID-19 might have spilled into humans from a lab.
In a report released Thursday, WHO’s expert group said key pieces of data are still missing to explain how the pandemic began. The scientists said the group would remain open to any and all scientific evidence that becomes available in the future to allow for comprehensive testing of all reasonable hypotheses. It noted that since lab accidents in the past have triggered some outbreaks, the highly politicised theory could not be discounted. Former US President Donald Trump speculated repeatedly without evidence that COVID-19 was started in a Chinese lab. He also accused WHO of colluding with China to cover up the initial outbreak, citing the UN health agency’s continued public praise of the country.WHO’s expert group said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus sent two letters to senior Chinese government officials in February requesting information including details about the earliest human cases of COVID-19 in the city of Wuhan. The experts said no studies were provided to WHO that assessed the possibility of COVID-19 being a laboratory leak. They said their understanding of how the coronavirus emerged was limited by factors including that not all research presented by Chinese scientists on the virus has been published. The scientists said numerous avenues of research were needed, including studies evaluating the role of wild animals, which are thought to be COVID-19’s natural reservoir, and environmental studies in places where the virus might have first spread, like the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan. Last March, WHO released a report about COVID-19’s origins following a highly choreographed visit by international scientists to China, which concluded that the disease most likely jumped into humans from bats and that there was no evidence to suggest there was a connection to a laboratory.Yet after considerable criticism, including from some of the scientists on WHO’s team, Tedros acknowledged that it was premature to rule out a lab leak and said he has asked China to be more transparent in sharing information. In its new report, WHO said they were given access to data including from unpublished blood samples from more than 40,000 people in Wuhan in 2019, which were tested for COVID-19 antibodies. None were found, suggesting the virus was not spreading widely before it was first identified in late December that year.
