Find Covid-19 origin or face Covid-26 and Covid-32: US experts
The world needs the cooperation of the Chinese government to trace the origins of Covid-19 and prevent future pandemic threats, two leading US disease experts said on Sunday.
Information to support the theory that the SARSCOV-2 virus may have escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China, has increased, said Scott Gottlieb, a commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration in the Trump administration who now sits on the board of Pfizer.
China hasn't provided evidence to disprove that theory, while the search for signs that the virus emerged from wildlife hasn't yielded results, Gottlieb said on CBS News's "Face the Nation."
Not knowing how the pandemic started puts the world at risk of future outbreaks, Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, said in a separate TV appearance.
"There's going to be Covid26 and Covid-32 unless we fully understand the origins of Covid-19," Hotez said on NBC'S "Meet the press."
Almost a year and half after the new pathogen was first detected spreading in a seafood market in Wuhan,
China, the precise origins of the virus remain obscure. Scientists have hypothesised that it most likely spread from wild animals to humans. The idea that the virus may have accidentally escaped from a research lab, long promoted by some Republicans, has gotten renewed attention from the Biden administration.
In a surprise statement on Wednesday, President Joe Biden called for a renewed investigation into the virus's emergence. US intelligence agencies had conflicting assessments of whether it was more likely the virus crossed the species barrier from a natural reservoir or leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Biden said. He ordered the agencies to "redouble their efforts" and report to him again in 90 days.