World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency will continue efforts to establish the origins of Covid-19, according to media reports, after science journal Nature said the WHO had shelved its investigation over a lack of cooperation from China.
(Bloomberg) — World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency will continue efforts to establish the origins of Covid-19, according to media reports, after science journal Nature said the WHO had shelved its investigation over a lack of cooperation from China.
“Knowing how this pandemic started is very, very important and very crucial,” Tedros told reporters Wednesday, according to AFP. “We need to continue to push until we get the answer.”
Nature said Tuesday that the WHO had paused the second phase of its investigation into the pandemic’s origins due to difficulties conducting key studies in China.
China’s foreign ministry pushed back against the Nature report, saying the country had “shared information and updates on origins tracing” with the WHO.
“We support and participate in global origins tracing based on science,” ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a briefing in Beijing on Wednesday. “We have received two WHO expert teams for origins study in China, and concluded a report that is science based and authoritative.”
“We will continue such efforts and communication,” Wang said.
Still Digging
The WHO last month urged Beijing to share more detailed information on its Covid situation after China reported tens of thousands of deaths amid a major surge during its reopening. At the time, Tedros reiterated the importance of transparency and deeper cooperation.
WHO Calls for More China Covid Data After Death Tally Released
The organization was asked in 2020 to help identify the source of the virus, and conducted a weeks-long joint mission with a team of international scientists and researchers from China. The report was released in March 2021, though it was criticized as incomplete by the US. Later that year, the WHO formed a more permanent scientific advisory group to look at the origins of the virus, along with any future outbreaks.
The panel released a preliminary report last June, which noted that crucial data wasn’t yet available for a complete understanding of how the virus took root.
In recent weeks, China has faced questions over the transparency of its Covid data, posting the biggest drop in Covid deaths among more than 20 places hit hardest by the omicron variant.
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