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China vs the WHO: where to look next in the hunt for Covid-19’s origins
- Beijing says the search must be expanded to countries and regions around the world
- The World Health Organization’s proposal includes investigation of the lab leak theory
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For China, the road ahead is clear.
In the country’s most detailed comments on the issue yet, six of the country’s top health experts and officials said on Thursday that the next step in the search for the origins of Covid-19 should extend to countries and regions around the world, not just in China where the coronavirus was first detected.
“We should not limit our field of vision to a single place, but expand it, and carry out multi-country, multi-place origins tracing worldwide,” said Wang Chen, director of the National Centre for Respiratory Medicine.
The panel called for global bat and animal testing to hunt for traces of the pathogen, as well as more research into potential early Covid-19 cases from around the world.
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It is a course that runs counter to the World Health Organization’s proposal for the second phase of the origins hunt to include investigation of the lab leak theory, with “audits of relevant laboratories and research institutions operating in the area of the initial human cases identified in December 2019” among other research. The first phase of the mission was completed earlier this year in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the disease was first detected.
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Seeking the invisible: hunt for origins of deadly Covid-19 coronavirus will take scientists to Wuhan
Seeking the invisible: hunt for origins of deadly Covid-19 coronavirus will take scientists to Wuhan
Beijing has rejected the WHO proposal, and the comments on Thursday come after repeated assertions from Chinese officials that the virus may not have emerged within its borders.
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It is a view that sidesteps international calls for continued focus on research in China, where the first cases of Covid-19 and the closest known animal virus were identified.
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