As I see it | Can World Health Organization’s coronavirus investigation really find the source of the outbreak?
- Scientists will study its spread in Wuhan but the Chinese authorities may not give them access to the raw data from the city
- Topic is highly sensitive in Beijing, which hopes that the investigation will prove the virus did not originate in China
The World Health Organization (WHO) has finally released a plan for its investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.
At first glance, the plan – which will first look at information from Wuhan – covers most avenues of inquiry, but there are lingering doubts about whether it can uncover any new clues.
The investigation will consist of two elements: how the disease spread among humans; and the animals sold in the Huanan market in Wuhan as well as their origins.
The plan says scientists will check the hospital records of pneumonia patients before December and test stored samples. They will also review respiratory disease trends, interview the first known patients and examine the cause of death in patients who died from similar symptoms before December.
However, most of the investigation will be carried out by Chinese scientists, and the international specialists will probably be presented with their findings rather than being given direct access to medical records or raw data from the national reporting system and contact tracing database.
That means the information given to the WHO team will probably be more or less what the authorities in Beijing have already released.