WHO team urges patience after 1st look for origin of virus

GENEVA — An international team behind a long-awaited study of the possible origins of COVID-19 with Chinese colleagues on Tuesday called it a “first start,” while the United States and allies expressed concerns about the findings and China trumpeted its cooperation.

Team leader Peter Ben Embarek of the World Health Organization presented the team’s first-phase look into the possible origins of the pandemic that has killed nearly 2.8 million people and pummeled economies since it first turned up in China over a year ago.

The report, obtained by The Associated Press on Monday and formally published on Tuesday, said transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is “extremely unlikely.” The WHO chief has said all hypotheses remain open.

After the report’s publication, the U.S. and over a dozen other countries expressed concerns about the study, pointing to delays and a lack of access to samples and data — without finger-pointing at Beijing directly. China responded by reiterating its criticism of efforts to “politicize” the issue.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration was still reviewing the WHO report, but said “it lacks crucial data, information ... It lacks access.

It lacks transparency.” She said the study did not rise to the level of the impact that the pandemic has had on the world.

“That’s why we also have called for additional forward-looking steps,” she said in a briefing with reporters. “It doesn’t lead us to any closer (an) understanding or greater knowledge than we had six to nine months ago about the origin.”

“This is only a first start — we’ve only scratched the surface of this very complex set of studies that need to be conducted,” Ben Embarek said. “We have pointed to many additional studies that should be conducted from now on.”

“This is a work in progress,” he added, “and we all have to be patient.”