WHO: ‘Key pieces’ of Covid data missing

Call for study into lab-leak theory

Over two years after the coronavirus was first detected in China, and after at least 6.3 million deaths have been counted worldwide from the pandemic, the World Health Organisation is recommending in its strongest terms yet that a deeper probe is required into whether a lab accident may be to blame.

That stance marks a sharp reversal of the UN health agency’s initial assessment of the pandemic’s origins, and comes after many critics accused WHO of being too quick to dismiss or underplay a lab-leak theory that put Chinese officials on the defensive.

WHO concluded last year that it was “extremely unlikely” Covid-19 might have spilled into humans in the city of Wuhan from a lab. Many scientists suspect the coronavirus jumped into people from bats.

Yet in a report released yesterday, WHO’s expert group said “key pieces of data” to explain how the pandemic began were still missing.

Identifying a disease’s source in animals typically takes years. It took more than a decade for scientists to pinpoint the species of bats that were the natural reservoir for Sars, a relative of Covid-19.

WHO’s expert group also noted that since lab accidents in the past have triggered outbreaks, the theory could not be discounted.

Jean-Claude Manuguerra, a cochairman of the 27-member international advisory group, acknowledged that some scientists might be “allergic” to the idea of investigating the lab-leak theory, but said they needed to be “open-minded”.

The report could revive accusations that WHO initially was too accepting of Chinese government explanations early in the outbreak, which ultimately killed millions of people, sickened millions more, forced dozens of countries into lockdown and upended the world economy.

Investigations by the Associated Press found that some top WHO insiders were frustrated by China during the initial outbreak. They were also upset over how China sought to clamp down on research into the origins of Covid-19.

The experts said no studies were provided to WHO that assessed the possibility of Covid-19 resulting from a laboratory leak.

Jamie Metzl, who sits on an unrelated WHO advisory group, has suggested that the Group of Seven industrialised nations set up their own Covid origins probe, saying WHO lacks the political authority, expertise and independence to conduct such a critical evaluation.

WHO’s experts have called for numerous studies to be done, including testing wild animals to find which species might host Covid-19.

They also said the “cold chain” supply theory should be probed. China has previously advanced the idea that traces of Covid-19 on frozen packaging was causing outbreaks rather than any domestic source, a theory widely panned by outside scientists. China has called the suggestion that Covid-19 began in a laboratory “baseless” and countered that the virus originated in American facilities, which were also known to be researching coronaviruses in animals.

In a footnote to the report, WHO’s group noted that three of its own experts disagreed with the call to investigate the possibility of Covid-19 being sparked by a lab accident.