US calls for transparent look into coronavirus origins
- American health chief says next step in investigation must be based on full access to information on outbreak’s earliest days
- China rejects fresh calls for consideration of lab leak theory
Addressing the World Health Assembly on Tuesday, US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said future studies into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic needed to be transparent and respect the independence of scientists.
“Phase 2 of the Covid origins study must be launched with terms of reference that are transparent, science-based, and give international experts the independence to fully assess the source of the virus and the early days of the outbreak,” Becerra said.
That investigation – conducted jointly by the World Health Organization and Chinese authorities – began in January after months of discussion between Beijing and the WHO on the scope of the study, from the scientists appointed to the scenarios under consideration.
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Jamie Metzl, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington, said in March that those terms of reference did not give a fair hearing to the theory that the pandemic began with a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has researched bat coronaviruses.