Nations challenge virus origin report
Britain, the United States and a dozen other countries have voiced ‘‘shared concerns’’ over an initial World Health Organisation report into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic and are urging China to provide ‘‘full access’’, following a claim by WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that data was withheld from its investigators who travelled to China.
‘‘We join in expressing shared concerns regarding the recent WHOconvened study in China,’’ the 14 nations said in a statement, adding that the research was ‘‘significantly delayed and lacked access to complete, original data and samples’’.
They called for further urgent studies into how the virus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan, adding: ‘‘Together, we support a transparent and independent analysis and evaluation, free from interference and undue influence.’’
The joint statement, whose signatories also included Japan, South Korea, Australia, Denmark, Canada and Israel, came after Tedros said the highly politicised four-week investigation by its experts in China was not ‘‘extensive enough’’.
Tedros also called for a deeper inquiry into the possibility that the virus escaped from a Chinese laboratory, despite his chief investigator saying there was no evidence for this.
Critics in the US and Europe had earlier condemned the report’s dismissals of the ‘‘laboratory hypothesis’’, arguing that the WHO had been strongarmed into a pro-china whitewash and that its team was fooled during a factfinding visit to Wuhan in January.
China has angrily denied that the virus originated in a laboratory.
Tedros noted that the WHO team, which was closely chaperoned by Chinese officials during its two-week visit, had difficulty gaining access to raw data in China. He called for ‘‘more timely and comprehensive data sharing’’ in future.
However, Peter Ben Embarek, the Danish chief of the investigating team, said he had found no evidence for the virus originating in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Instead, he said a mass of data pointed to the virus being transferred to humans via the market in Wuhan in early December 2019, and possibly as early as October.
Chinese officials did not respond directly to the criticism, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying: ‘‘China has always been a supporter for global scientific research on the source of the virus and its transmission routes.’’
The terms of reference for the Wuhan mission called for a collaboration between Chinese and foreign scientists, not an independent investigation or audit. Much of the data was collected by Chinese scientists ahead of the visit and then analysed by the joint team.
The international team has defended its work, arguing that it did important research under tough circumstances, and calling for patience as scientists slowly sift through clues.