Team describes virus-origin study as just a start

But U.S., allies note concerns over WHO researchers’ lack of access in China

GENEVA — An international team behind a long-awaited study with Chinese colleagues about the possible origins of covid-19 called it a “first start” on Tuesday, 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 coronavirus, which has killed more than 2.8 million people and pummeled economies since it first turned up in China more than a year ago.

The report, formally published on Tuesday, said transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal was the most likely scenario and that a lab leak was “extremely unlikely,” but all hypotheses remain open.

After the report’s publication, the U.S. and more than 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 she added that “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 [to an] understanding or greater knowledge than we had six to nine months ago about the origin.”

Separately, in what it called a joint statement by 14 countries, the State Department urged “momentum” for a second-phase look by experts and pointed to the need for further animal studies “to find the means of introduction into humans.”

The countries expressed support for the WHO’s experts and staff, citing their “tireless” work toward ending the pandemic and understanding its origins to help prevent a future one. But they said the study had been “significantly delayed and lacked access to complete, original data and samples.”

Psaki said China has “not been transparent” with the U.N. health agency.

Critics of China’s government say it took too long to allow in the team members: Their roughly four-week visit to China in January and February came more than a year after the coronavirus outbreak was first noticed in the city of Wuhan.

Ahead of the report’s release, senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, expressed concern about its content and framing, saying Beijing “helped to write it.”

The European Union, in a separate statement, echoed concerns about the late start to the study, the delayed deployment of the expert team, and the limited availability of samples and data, but it called the report “a helpful first step.”

A statement on the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s website after the release pointed to China’s cooperation with the WHO and said the Chinese side “offered necessary facilitation for the team’s work, fully demonstrating its openness, transparency and responsible attitude.”

It repeated China’s frequent criticism of efforts to politicize the issue, saying that it will “jeopardize anti-pandemic cooperation, and cost more lives.” It also reiterated the Chinese government’s belief that the study of the pandemic’s origins “should be conducted in multiple countries and localities.”

FUTURE STUDIES

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday that he expected “future collaborative studies to include more timely and comprehensive data sharing” and pointed to the need for future research, including possible studies at laboratories in Wuhan.

Tedros, who has largely steered clear of calling out China, said team members raised concerns to him about access to raw epidemiological data needed for the report.

“The team reports that the first detected case had symptom onset on the 8th of December, 2019. But to understand the earliest cases, scientists would benefit from full access to data, including biological samples from at least September 2019,” he said at the briefing. “I expect future collaborative studies to include more timely and comprehensive data sharing.”

Ben Embarek said the team members faced political pressure from “all sides” but insisted: “We were never pressured to remove critical elements in our report.” He also pointed to “privacy” issues in China that prevented sharing of some data, saying similar restrictions exist in many countries.

Joined by several team members for the news conference, Ben Embarek said that “where we did not have full access to all the raw data we wanted, that has been put as a recommendation for the future studies.”

“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.”

UNLIKELY HYPOTHESIS

Ben Embarek said it was difficult to know when, if at all, the precise origin of the pandemic will come to light. While the team members believe one hypothesis — that the virus could have leaked from a laboratory — was not likely, it was “not impossible” either, he said.

“We haven’t seen or been able to hear or see or look at anything that would warrant different conclusions from our side,” he said.

But in its report, the team concluded that it is extremely unlikely that the virus leaked from a lab — a theory that many scientists dismiss for lack of evidence but that others are not ready to rule out, especially without additional proof of the means of transmission.

The visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a facility known for working with bat coronaviruses, lasted hours, according to scientists on the trip.

They got a tour of the facility in the presence of staff members and officials, heard about the lab’s safety protocols and were told that the lab was not working with viruses close to SARS-CoV-2, as the novel coronavirus that causes covid-19 is officially known.

Tedros echoed the teams findings, noting the team’s access to the lab and its conclusion that a lab leak was extremely unlikely.

“I do not believe that this assessment was extensive enough,” he said. “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,” he continued, “potentially with additional missions involving specialist experts, which I am ready to deploy.”

Psaki said China has “not been transparent” with the U.N. health agency.