The report by the WHO team of experts said that all available data showed that the new coronavirus caused by COVID-19 probably came from animals, possibly bats, a conclusion similar to the previous UN work on 2021 that followed a trip to China. The missing data, especially from China, where the first cases were reported in December 2019, meant that it was not possible to determine exactly how the virus was first transmitted to humans. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register The findings are likely to add to the doubts that it will be possible to determine how and where the virus appeared. They will also bring urgency to the WHO review and health emergency procedures as the organization seeks to reassure itself after years of criticism of pandemic handling. The WHO says the report, the first of many expected from the commission, also looks at developing a better way to investigate the origins of future outbreaks. WHO Director-General Tentros Antanom Gebregesus wrote to the Chinese government twice in February this year seeking more information, the report said, although the authors also said China had provided some information on request. The origins of the pandemic, which has killed at least 15 million people, have been politicized. Scientists say it is important to find out what happened to prevent similar outbreaks.
THE LONGER IT LASTS, THE MORE DIFFICULT IT BECOMES
But the panel’s team – known as the Scientific Advisory Group on the Origin of New Pathogens (SAGO) – said it was still impossible to do so due to a lack of data. They also say there are “recognized challenges” to investigating “such a long time after the initial outbreak”, although their work will continue. “The longer it lasts, the more difficult it becomes,” Maria Van Kerchove, a senior WHO official at the SAGO Secretariat, told a news conference, adding that the WHO would support all ongoing efforts to better understand how the pandemic began. “We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to the millions of people who died and to the billions of people who became infected,” he said. The report said no new information had been provided on the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 being introduced into humans through a laboratory incident and “it remains important to take into account all reasonable scientific evidence” to assess this possibility. Reflecting on the political controversy that led to the report, it includes a footnote describing how committee members from Brazil, China and Russia disagreed on the need for further studies on the laboratory’s case and suggested that nothing had changed since the previous one. WHO-China Joint Report on Origins, published in March 2021. The latest report also includes a framework for identifying the origin of future outbreaks, which the WHO has said is the committee’s central objective, rather than drawing conclusions about COVID-19. Jean-Claude Manuguerra, Co-President of SAGO, said that monkey pox is a “demonstration of how much we need this global framework” to learn how future pathogens emerge. When the commission was set up in October, WHO emergency chief Mike Ryan said it was “the best opportunity … it could be our last chance” to understand the origins of the coronavirus. The report also includes a long list of recommendations for further studies that could shed more light on the origins of COVID-19. They include the search for information on the first cases in Wuhan, China, as well as further studies on the animal market in Wuhan, which was identified early as a possible site for the transmission of the virus to humans. The 2021 report described a laboratory leak as “very unlikely” and suggested that the most plausible theory was an animal diffusion. A later report by the US Secret Service stated that both theories remained plausible, although they also leaned towards natural origin. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Jennifer Rigby. additional report by Emma Farge. curated by Barbara Lewis Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
