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.

B.1.617 variant found in at least 53 territories: WHO

The coronavirus variant first detected in India has now been officially recorded in 53 territories, a World Health Organization report showed on Wednesday.

The report said B.1.617 had shown increased transmissibility, while disease severity and risk of infection were under investigation.