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Microbiologist Dominic Dwyer told Reuters, The Wall St Journal and the New York Times that a team of Chinese officials had requested raw data on early cases of the disease, a “normal practice.” Unfortunately, the WHO team only gave a brief summary of them.
WHO chief investigator Peter Ben Embarek said in an interview with CNN that some signs were even observed during the expert mission, suggesting that the spread of the virus in 2019 was wider than expected. Furthermore, it was established for the first time that more than ten strains of the virus had already spread in Uhan in December of that year. In addition, the WHO China team had the opportunity to speak with the first person to become ill, a 30- to 40-year-old office worker who did not travel anywhere before becoming ill. He was diagnosed with the new coronavirus on December 8, reports CNN.
The fact that the results of a long-awaited visit to China are becoming so slow and so difficult justifies the fears previously expressed by researchers investigating the origin of the virus that the virus spread in China before the first case was officially identified in mid-December.
PB Embarek, who had just returned to Switzerland from the Chinese city of Wuhan, told CNN: “In December, the Wuhan virus was already very widespread. That is new information. “
China has not responded to allegations of non-cooperation and has repeatedly emphasized that relations with the WHO have always been transparent.
The United States has asked China to provide the WHO team with access to data on the early stages of the novel virus outbreak, adding that China’s WHO report “raises serious questions.”
The WHO team said last week that it was “highly unlikely” that the new coronavirus had leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, thus rejecting a controversial theory launched last year, the BBC said.
The new coronavirus was first identified in late 2019 in Wuhan. Since then, more than 106 million people have been diagnosed worldwide. in their cases, more than 2.3 million. people died.
What did the WHO team want to know?
WHO researchers have asked Chinese officials to provide data on 174 cases of the new coronavirus detected in Wuhan in December 2019, Professor Dwyer told Reuters. Only half of the first cases involved a fish market, where an outbreak of the virus was first detected.
“That is why our request was so stubborn. I can’t comment on why they didn’t hear it. Whether it’s for political reasons or at the wrong time, and maybe it’s difficult to do it … Whatever the reason, I can’t name it. Because I do not know. We can only speculate, ”says Dwyer.
PSO Uhana Mission
Thea Kolsten, a WHO immunologist from Denmark, told the New York Times that she described the study as “extremely geopolitical.”
“Everybody knows how much pressure there is in China to initiate an investigation, as well as what the consequences could be,” he said.
Mr Dwyer ensures that the data limitations will be mentioned in the final WHO report, which is expected next week.
A team of WHO experts arrived in China in early January and spent four weeks there (two of them in quarantine).
Beijing claims that cooperation with WHO researchers has been transparent, although the experts’ visit took place only after four months of negotiations. Furthermore, the work of the experts was closely monitored by Chinese officials.
The United States accuses China of hiding the scale of the primary virus outbreak and criticizes the terms of the visit. During the visit, China restricted the travel of the WHO team, making it difficult to question witnesses, including community members, on health issues.
Researchers told the New York Times that all disagreements, including access to patients’ medical records, were so intense that sometimes experts just yelled at each other.
In a January report, the WHO criticized China’s initial response, arguing that “public health measures should have been tightened.”
The WHO team also believes that a possible “cold chain” transmission needs to be investigated. It is related to the theory that the virus could have spread through the transport and marketing of frozen foods.
Peter Daszak, a member of the WHO team, says that the investigation into the origin of the virus could lead to Southeast Asia.
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