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During the Chatham House Foundation press conference in London-UK, Peter Daszak, from the WHO Covid-19 origin research team, estimated that collective scientific research could determine how the Covid-19 epidemic virus infects the first people in Wuhan-China in December 2019.
Daszak, president of the New York-based EcoHealth Alliance, said the wildlife trade was a viable explanation for the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan, where schools, the first human infection, were observed.
Mr. Peter Daszak is part of the WHO Covid-19 Origin Research Group. Photo: AAP
That hypothesis was “strongly supported” by both the WHO and China, Daszak said. Daszak and the study co-authors will soon publish a report next week on the initial findings of the recent investigation into the origin of the Wuhan epidemic.
These investigative experts spent four weeks in Wuhan to visit sites related to the first cases and completed their mission last month with no specific results.
The research team emphasizes that this is only the first stage of the disease origin investigation process.
It usually takes many years for experts to accurately identify diseases of animal origin. The Ebola virus first infected humans in 1976 and the disease is believed to have originated in bats. However, the Ebola virus is not currently found in bats.
Referring to the origin of the Covid-19 epidemic, Mr. Daszak said: “I think we will know very soon in the next few years. We may have really important data on the origin of the disease and how to wake them up.”
Marion Koopmans, also a member of the WHO research team, said they had weighed many theories about the Covid-19 outbreak, including the possibility of an accident in the laboratory.
Ms Koopmans said the research team visited three labs near the Huanan market in Wuhan and concluded that a problem is unlikely to occur in the lab.
Ms. Marion Koopmans is also a member of the WHO research team. Photo: AP
According to Dr. Daszak, projections of the outbreak to date remain much lower than other existential threats, such as terrorism or hurricanes.
Mr. Daszak urged the international community to do more to forecast the pandemic and find the source of an outbreak in the future so that there is early action to address and prevent.
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