Calls grow to probe Covid origins again

WHO mulls next steps in efforts to find origins of virus, while China dismisses lab-leak theory

GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) has had informal consultations with member states about the next phase in efforts to find the origins of the coronavirus.

It will continue to have those discussions in the coming weeks, Mike Ryan, head of the WHO health emergencies programme, said in a speech to the World Health Assembly, the governing body of the Geneva-based agency.

“We’re very much welcoming of your suggestions around those inputs for the next phase and around the need for further experts to be able to carry out different studies as needed,” Ryan said. “The director-general will consider all of that over the coming weeks.”

The group of international scientists that travelled to Wuhan, China, where the first Covid cases emerged at the end of 2019, said in a joint report with Chinese counterparts that the pathogen most likely spread from bats to humans via another animal.

A lab accident was deemed least likely, though WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus joined the US and other governments in saying the probe didn’t adequately analyse the possibility of a lab leak.

Earlier on Wednesday, China accused the US of “spreading conspiracy theories and disinformation” as the theory resurfaced that the coronavirus emerged from a Wuhan laboratory.

UK PM’S ex-aide confirms Boris said ‘let the bodies pile high’

LONDON: Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s former adviser Dominic Cummings confirmed on Wednesday that he had heard the prime minister say “let the bodies pile high” when discussing whether he should lock down Britain again late last year.

Cummings’ on Wednesday gave a seven-hour testimony to the parliament’s science and

health committees, who are investigating Britain’s pandemic response.

Asked whether he had heard the prime minister say the words “let the bodies pile high”, Cumming replied: “Yes,” confirming a report by the BBC.

Johnson has previously denied the reports. “I heard that in the prime minister’s study,” Cummings told the committee.

Cummings further claimed Johnson was not fit to be the

prime minister and had made a series of disastrous pandemic decisions including failing to take the threat of Covid-19 seriously.