CHINA HID RAW DATA, EVEN VETTED WHO STUDY ON COVID-19
The entire fact finding exercise was undertaken in coordination with the Chinese government including taking approval from Beijing on who all would be part of WHO’S study team.
A120-page joint World Health Organization (Who)china study on the origins of Covid-19, which was released on 30 March, failed to solve the most important question that it was expected to find a response to: from where did the Covid-19 virus originate and how did it infect humans? And from the WHO Director General’s statement it becomes apparent that China did not share the “raw data” with the experts who visited Wuhan.
The team that conducted the study comprised 17 Chinese
and 17 international experts from different countries. The study was conducted over 28 days, from 14 January to 10 February 2021 in the city of Wuhan, China, and while examining the different possible pathways through which the virus entered the human body, stated that “introduction through a laboratory incident” was “extremely unlikely”.
However, WHO Directorgeneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ own statement, which came at the time of the release of the report, confirmed speculation that the WHO team was not given complete access to the information that they wanted while on their field visit to China.
“The team also visited several laboratories in Wuhan and considered the possibility that the virus entered the human population as a result of a laboratory incident. However, I do not believe that this assessment was extensive enough. Further data and studies will be needed to reach more robust conclusions. Although the team has concluded that a laboratory leak is the least likely hypothesis, this requires further investigation, potentially with additional missions involving specialist experts, which I am ready to deploy. In my discussions with the team, they expressed the difficulties they encountered in accessing raw data. I expect future collaborative studies to include more timely and comprehensive data sharing”, said the WHO Director General, who in the past has been criticized for being too soft on China.