World health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva on Friday (Feb. 12) that all hypotheses about the origin of the New Coronavirus were still under consideration after he discussed with members of the investigation team what they found during their visit to China. There were reports that WHO investigators said Chinese authorities had refused to provide them with raw, personalized data on early New Coronavirus cases, which led to a heated discussion between the two sides.
An international team led by the World Health Organization wrapped up a visit to China this week. They were there to investigate the origin of the new coronavirus, including a visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virus Research. Some speculate the virus may have come from the institute.
Before leaving China, WHO scientist Peter Ben Embarek held a news conference in Wuhan on Feb. 9 to announce some of the preliminary findings of their month-long investigation into the traceability of the virus in Wuhan, including that it is highly unlikely that the virus originated at the institute.
However, WHO’s director-general, Peter Tandse, told a regular briefing in Geneva that no hypothesis had been ruled out.
He said:- “After talking to some members of the investigation team, I would like to confirm that all hypotheses remain open to further analysis and research.”
As he did in previous briefings, Tandse cautioned that the investigation will not find answers to all questions, but he said it adds important information to the understanding of the origins of the virus. He also said the mission has led to a better understanding of the early stages of the New crown outbreak and identified areas for further analysis and research.
He said he expects the investigation team’s report to be completed next week and that he will discuss the findings of the investigation after it is published.
Tandse’s comments come as the Wall Street Journal on Friday quoted investigators as saying that Chinese authorities have refused to provide investigators with raw, personalized data on the 174 early cases of New Crown found in the early stages of the December 2019 outbreak in Wuhan, China, that could help them determine how and when New Crown virus first began to spread in China, and that the two sides are at odds over those The lack of details has led to heated arguments between the two sides.
WHO investigators said Chinese officials and scientists, who provided their own exhaustive summaries and data analysis on the cases and also provided summary data and analysis from a retrospective search of medical records in the months before the Wuhan outbreak was confirmed, said they found no evidence of the virus, the report said.
But the Wall Street Journal said WHO panel members said they were not allowed to see the raw underlying data from these retrospective studies, which would have allowed them to analyze for themselves the timing and extent of the virus’ start of transmission in China, and that WHO member states typically provide such data as part of WHO investigations.
“They showed us a few examples, but that’s not the same as showing all of them, that’s standard epidemiological surveys,” Dominic Dwyer, an Australian microbiologist on the WHO panel, told the Wall Street Journal. “So, you know, from our perspective, the interpretation of that data becomes more limited, even though the other side may think it’s pretty good.”
The report quoted Dwyer as saying that the Chinese authorities’ refusal to provide raw and individualized data on the initial 174 new crown cases, as well as early cases such as pneumonia that could emerge in the months leading up to December 2019, led to heated discussions between the WHO team and their Chinese counterparts.
China’s reluctance to provide data has fueled concerns among many foreign governments and scientists who fear a lack of transparency in the country’s search for the source of the outbreak.
The U.S. State Department said this week that it wants to see data related to the WHO investigation. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a briefing Tuesday that the Biden administration wants independent consideration of the findings and the data underlying them.
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