Coronavirus: WHO names new team of scientists to take over origins probe
- The 26 experts from countries including China, the US, India and Kenya are members of a permanent advisory body known as Sago
- But whether future missions will travel to China for further research is uncertain after Beijing rejected a WHO plan in July
The 26-person group, announced on Wednesday, is stacked with experts in virology, epidemiology, animal health and biosecurity, among other fields. Selected by the WHO from over 700 applicants, the experts come from countries including China, the United States, India, Kenya and Brazil.
The group, known as the Scientific Advisory Group on the Origins of Novel Pathogens, or Sago, will take over the WHO’s coronavirus origins probe after a team of experts travelled to China earlier this year for a four-week mission in Wuhan, where the first cases were reported.
Six members of that original team of 10 international experts are included in Sago. They are Dutch virologist Marion Koopmans, Danish epidemiologist Thea Fischer, British epidemiologist John Watson, Russian researcher Vladimir Dedkov, animal health specialist Hung Nguyen of Vietnam, and epidemiologist Elmoubasher Farag of Qatar.
The Chinese scientist named to Sago, Yang Yungui, deputy director at the Beijing Institute of Genomics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also took part in the earlier mission as part of the Chinese team.
