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All the hypotheses about the origin of the coronavirus are still on the table. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced this at a press conference on Friday, Reuters reports. The World Health Organization’s group of experts spent several weeks in China to understand the origin of the pandemic and visited, among other things, the Huanan market, where the virus outbreak was traced.
The WHO has previously announced that the main hypothesis is that the virus comes from bats, but that various scenarios can explain how it was transmitted to humans. One possibility is that another animal species was infected first.
– There are doubts as to whether certain hypotheses have been rejected. “After speaking with some members of the group, I want to confirm that all hypotheses remain open and require further analysis and investigation,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday, according to Reuters.
At the beginning of the week The WHO group announced that it was “very unlikely” that the virus initially came from a laboratory, one of the hypotheses that has been investigated. During the stay in Wuhan, the group of experts made a field visit to the laboratory that has been at the center of the claim. Former US President Donald Trump has said he believes the claim, which has fueled conspiracy theories that China deliberately spread the virus. China has repeatedly rejected all such speculation.
Peter Ben Embarek, who has led the WHO think tank, announced earlier this week that new information had been discovered during the investigation, but not one that would drastically change the image that already existed, reports the BBC. During Friday’s press conference, he was asked about the hypothesis that the virus had spread from the lab and explained that the researchers claim they did not have the virus there.
– Usually laboratory researchers who work and discover new viruses publish their findings immediately. It’s a common approach around the world, especially with new and interesting viruses, he said at the time.
Peter Ben Embarek, who has led the WHO expert group, says the virus is unlikely to have spread from a laboratory.
Photo: Christopher Black / AFP
The mission in Wuhan will lead to a report on the most likely explanations for the origin of the virus. A summary draft of the WHO group’s findings could be ready next week, Tedro’s Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during the press conference, followed by a final report “in the coming weeks.” Both reports will be published. However, he stressed that the mission will not provide all the answers.
– But it has provided important information that brings us closer to understanding the origin of covid-19.
The WHO has previously criticized China for delaying giving the organization’s think tank a chance to investigate the origins of the virus, but a greater willingness to cooperate has softened the tone. Now, however, Chinese authorities refuse to disclose certain data about the early case of covid-19 in the country, reports the Wall Street Journal. The WHO believes that such data would help the investigation, to determine how and when the virus began to spread.
Read more: WHO team investigates “data no one has seen before” from Wuhan
