Probe begins into origins of pandemic
TWO World Health Organisation (WHO) experts will spend today and tomorrow in the China to lay the groundwork for a larger mission to investigate the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.
One animal health expert and one epidemiologist will, during their visit to Beijing, work to fix the “scope and terms of reference” for the future mission aimed at learning how the virus jumped from animals to humans, the agency’s statement said yesterday.
Scientists believe the virus may have originated in bats, then was transmitted through another mammal such as a civet cat or an armadillo-like pangolin before being passed on to people at a market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
In an effort to block future outbreaks, China has cracked down on the trade in wildlife and closed some wet markets, while enforcing strict containment measures that appear to have virtually stopped new local infections.
The WHO mission is politically sensitive, with the US, the top funder of the UN body, moving to cut ties with it over allegations the agency mishandled the outbreak and is biased toward China.
More than 120 nations called for an investigation into the origins of the virus at the World Health Assembly in May.
China has insisted the WHO lead the investigation but wait until the pandemic is controlled.
The US, Brazil and India are continuing to see an increasing number of cases.
The last WHO coronavirusspecific mission to China was in February when Canadian doctor Bruce Aylward, praised China’s containment efforts and information-sharing.