The World Health Organization says its latest investigation into the origins of COVID-19 was inconclusive, in large part because of missing data from China, once again in its years-long effort to determine how the pandemic began. .
Key points:
- The WHO panel says all available data showed that the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 probably came from bats.
- Lack of data means it was not possible to identify exactly how the virus was first transmitted to humans.
- The findings are likely to add to doubts about the possibility of determining how and where the virus originated.
The report of the WHO expert group said that all available data showed that the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 probably came from animals, probably bats, a conclusion similar to the previous work of the US agency. United Nations on the issue in 2021 after a trip to China.
Missing data, especially from China, where the first cases were reported in December 2019, it was not possible to identify exactly how the virus was first transmitted to humans.
The findings are likely to add to doubts about the possibility of determining how and where the virus originated.
Efforts are being made to review the WHO and its health emergency procedures as the agency strives to reassert itself after years of criticism for its management of the pandemic.
The WHO said the report, the first of several expected from the group, also seeks to develop a better way to investigate the origins of future outbreaks.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote to the Chinese government twice in February this year for more information, the report said, although the authors also said that China had provided some data. on request.
The origins of the pandemic, which has killed at least 15 million people, have become politicized. Scientists say it’s important to establish what happened to prevent similar outbreaks.
Scientists say it is important to establish how the virus originated to prevent similar outbreaks in the future. (Reuters: Aly Song)
Researchers are running out of time
But the panel team, known as the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of New Pathogens (SAGO), said it was still impossible to do so due to a lack of data.
They also said there were “recognized challenges” in investigating “so long after the initial outbreak,” although their work would continue.
“The longer it takes, the harder it becomes,” Maria Van Kerkhove, a senior WHO official at the SAGO secretariat, said in a briefing, adding that WHO would support all ongoing efforts. to better understand how the pandemic began.
“We owe it to ourselves, to the millions of people who died and to the billions of people who became infected.”
The report said no new information had been provided on the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 being introduced into humans through a laboratory incident and “it remains important to consider all reasonable scientific data. “to evaluate this possibility.
As a reflection of the political dispute over the preparation of the report, it includes a footnote describing how panel members in Brazil, China and Russia disagreed that further studies were needed. laboratory hypothesis and suggested that nothing had changed since the previous WHO-China. joint report on origins, published in March 2021.
The latest report also includes a framework on how to identify the origins of future outbreaks, which the WHO said is the central focus of the panel, rather than drawing conclusions about COVID-19.
SAGO co-chair Jean-Claude Manuguerra said the monkey’s smallpox was an “illustration of how much we need this global framework” to find out how future pathogens arise.
When the panel was set up in October, WHO’s chief of emergency, Mike Ryan, said it was the “best chance … it may be our last chance” to understand the origins of the coronavirus.
The report also includes a long list of recommendations for further studies that could shed more light on the origins of COVID-19.
They include searching for information on early cases in Wuhan, China, as well as subsequent studies in the Wuhan market that were identified from the outset as a potential site for the virus to jump to humans.
The 2021 report described a laboratory leak as “highly unlikely” and suggested that the most plausible theory was an overflow of animals.
A later report by US intelligence said that both theories remained plausible, although they also leaned toward natural origins.
Reuters