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Economist Jeffrey Sachs is chair of the Lancet Covid-19 Commission. Photo: EPA-EFE

China, US united on Covid-19 probe? Lancet commission head says it’s the only way forward

  • The countries should work together to set new safety standards for labs doing virus research, according to Jeffrey Sachs
  • He says Washington shouldn’t point fingers at Beijing and should take ‘cooperative’ approach to pandemic origins investigation
The US and China need to put aside differences and work together to set new safety standards for laboratories doing virus research, said Jeffrey Sachs, chair of the Lancet Covid-19 Commission that oversees task forces to combat the coronavirus pandemic and prevent future outbreaks.

His comments come as both Beijing and Washington this month released statements on the need for stricter oversight of laboratories that handle dangerous pathogens.

But with both countries at loggerheads over the possible origin of Covid-19 – including allegations it may have escaped from a lab in China doing research funded by the US – Sachs said cooperation is the only way forward.

“The US was funding joint US-China research on Sars-like viruses, and so should not point fingers at China but should approach the investigation in a cooperative mode, and with a sense of shared responsibility for a careful review of the evidence,” he said in an email response to questions.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology is at the centre of a theory that the new coronavirus could have escaped from a Chinese lab. Photo: AFP

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday emphasised the importance of biosecurity to national security. Speaking at the monthly session of the Politburo, the country’s top decision-making body, Xi said ethical review of science experiments needs to be strictly enforced.

“[Biosecurity] is an important part of the country’s overall security, and it is also an important force that affects and even reshapes the world,” he said.

On September 3, the White House released its strategy to prepare for and respond to future pandemics and biological threats. It includes building an “arsenal” of vaccines and improving disease surveillance systems, as well as preventing laboratory accidents.

“Ensure R&D involving potentially dangerous biological agents is conducted safely and securely, by fostering a global research environment that adopts and enforces high standards,” said the plan released by the White House.

Did the US fund risky research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology?

While Beijing and Washington seem to be on the same page to combat the threats posed by epidemics, they remain far apart on investigating the origins of Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019.

The World Health Organization has proposed to audit laboratories in Wuhan that worked on coronaviruses to remove a hypothesis that the Sars-CoV-2 virus may have escaped from a lab in the city.

China has rejected any suggestion the pandemic could have originated from a Wuhan lab. It has called the hypothesis a political attack, stating there is no evidence anywhere that links the lab’s work to Covid-19, and said the US should open its own biosafety labs for investigation.

05:08

Nature or lab leak? Why tracing the origin of Covid-19 matters

Nature or lab leak? Why tracing the origin of Covid-19 matters

Sachs argues that middle ground needs to be found.

“The US and China should cooperate in auditing laboratories in the US and China, both to investigate the potential origins of Covid-19 and to help establish new international norms on biosafety for such types of research,” said Sachs, a professor of economics at Columbia University in New York.

Sachs himself has been touched by the controversy over the so-called Wuhan lab leak hypothesis. This month, he disbanded one of the task forces under the Lancet Commission that was set up to investigate the origins of Covid-19.

Sachs said the group was dissolved because several members had ties to EcoHealth Alliance, a US-based non-profit involved in obtaining federal grants to fund virus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The president of EcoHealth Alliance, Peter Daszak, was previously the leader of the task force, though he stepped down in June.

“The main issue was the extensive involvement of several members of the task force with the EcoHealth Alliance,” Sachs said in the email to explain why the group was disbanded. “I want to avoid any potential appearances of bias.”

Sachs said none of the task force members would be involved in writing the section of the final commission report that deals with the origins of Covid-19.

“The Lancet Secretariat will draft this part of the report, reaching out widely to leading experts on the issues involved,” he said. “The report will discuss the biosafety concerns.”

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