Covid: WHO says lab leak theory needs more study
LONDON/SHANGHAI: An expert group drafted by the World Health Organization (WHO) 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 on 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.
Then 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.
Shanghai to test 2.7mn
The Chinese financial hub Shanghai will lock down a district of 2.7 million people on Saturday to conduct mass coronavirus testing, city authorities said, as the metropolis struggles to fully emerge from punishing restrictions.
The city eased many restrictions last week, after confining most of its 25 million residents to their homes since March.
But the lockdown was never fully lifted, with hundreds of thousands in China’s biggest city still restricted to their homes and multiple residential compounds put under fresh stay-athome orders.
The southwestern district of Minhang, home to 2.7mn people, will be placed under “closed management” on Saturday morning and all residents will be tested, district authorities said in a social media post on Thursday.