A team of experts commissioned by the World Health Organization to help investigate the origin of the coronavirus pandemic says further research is needed to determine how COVID-19 first started, including a more detailed analysis of the possibility that it was laboratory accident. This stance marks a sharp reversal of the UN Health Service’s initial assessment of the origin of the pandemic. The WHO concluded last year that it was “extremely unlikely” that COVID-19 had spread to people in the laboratory. Many scientists suspect that the coronavirus jumped into humans from bats, possibly through another animal. In a report released Thursday, the WHO team of experts said “key elements” were still missing to explain how the pandemic started. The scientists said the team “will remain open to any scientific evidence available in the future to allow a thorough test of all reasonable hypotheses.” Identifying the source of an animal disease usually takes years. It took scientists about 15 years to find the species of bats that were the natural reservoir for SARS, a relative of COVID-19. The WHO team of experts also noted that since laboratory accidents have caused some outbreaks in the past, the highly politicized theory could not be rejected. Former United States President Donald Trump has repeatedly speculated – without evidence – that COVID-19 was started in a Chinese laboratory. He also accused the WHO of “collaborating” with China to cover up the initial outbreak, citing the country’s ongoing public praise from the UN health agency. The WHO team of experts said WHO Director-General Tentros Antanom Gebregesus sent two letters to senior Chinese government officials in February asking for information, including details of the first COVID-19 human cases in Wuhan. It is not clear if the Chinese responded. The experts said no studies had been provided to the WHO to assess the likelihood of COVID-19 coming from a laboratory leak. They said their understanding of how the coronavirus appeared was limited by many factors, including the fact that not all of the research presented by Chinese scientists had been published. Jamie Metzl, who is part of an unrelated WHO advisory group, suggested to the Group of Seven industrialized countries that they set up their own inquiry into the origins of COVID, saying that the WHO lacks political power, scientific know-how and independence. to conduct such a critical evaluation. Metzl welcomed the WHO’s call for further investigation into the possibility of a laboratory leak, but said it was insufficient. “Tragically, the Chinese government still refuses to share basic raw data and will not allow the necessary, full control of Wuhan’s laboratories,” he said. “Gaining access to this information is crucial both for understanding how this pandemic started and for preventing future pandemics.” WHO experts say a number of research pathways are needed, including studies assessing the role of wildlife, believed to be COVID-19’s natural reservoir, and environmental studies in places where the virus may have originally spread, such as the market. Huanan Seafood in Wuhan. In March 2021, the WHO published a report on the origins of COVID-19 following a highly choreographed visit by international scientists to China. The report concluded that the disease most likely spread to humans from bats and that there was no evidence that it was linked to a laboratory. However, after much criticism, including from some of the scientists in the WHO team, WHO chief Tentros acknowledged that it was “premature” to rule out a laboratory leak and said he had asked China to be more transparent in its exchange of information. In its new report, the WHO said experts had access to data containing unpublished blood samples from more than 40,000 people in Wuhan in 2019. The samples were tested for COVID-19 antibodies. No one was found, indicating that the virus did not spread widely until it was first detected in late December of that year. WHO experts have called for numerous studies, including wildlife testing, to find out which species can host COVID-19. They also said that the “cold chain” supply theory should be investigated, China has advanced the scientifically questionable theory, arguing that traces of COVID-19 in frozen packaging cause outbreaks and not any domestic source. To investigate whether COVID-19 may have been the result of a laboratory accident, WHO experts said the research should be conducted “with staff in laboratories responsible for the management and implementation of biosafety and biosafety”, saying that it would provide more information on how the viruses related to COVID-19 were treated. China had previously called the proposal that COVID-19 started in a laboratory “unfounded” and said the virus may have come from US facilities, which were also known to investigate coronaviruses in animals. The Chinese government said it supported the search for the origin of the pandemic, but that other countries should be the focus. WHO-affiliated scientists lamented in August 2021 that the search for the origin of the pandemic had stopped and that the window of opportunity was “closing fast”. They warned that collecting data that was now at least two years old was becoming increasingly difficult.
