WHO: Covid’s origins obscured by lack of Chinese data
The findings will likely add doubt to the possibility of knowing where and how Covid emerged
The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday its latest probe into the origins of Covid was inconclusive, mostly due to missing data from China, in another blow to its years-long effort to determine how the pandemic began.
An expert WHO panel reported that all available data showed the novel coronavirus that causes Covid probably came from animals, like bats, which is a similar conclusion to the UN agency’s previous work in 2021.
Lacking data, especially from China – where the first cases were reported in December 2019 – made it impossible to identify exactly how the virus was first transmitted to humans.
The findings will likely add doubt to the possibility of knowing where and how Covid emerged.
However, they could also inject urgency into the effort to overhaul the WHO and its health emergency procedures, according to Reuters.
The WHO said its report, the first of several expected from the investigating panel, is about to draw up another way to probe the origins of future outbreaks.
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WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote to the Chinese government twice in February this year in pursuit of more information, the report showed, although the authors also said China provided some data on request.
The origins of the pandemic, which has killed at least 15 million people, are now politicized. Scientists say it is important to establish what happened to prevent similar outbreaks.