Danish scientist Peter Ben Embarek, a member of the WHO expert team investigating the source of the new coronavirus, holds a joint press conference with the Chinese side in Wuhan.
(February 9, 2021 Reuters) As the World health Organization is about to issue a report on its trip to China to investigate the source of the new coronavirus, Beijing has suggested extending the investigation to the world. Some virologists say all the known evidence points to China and that the call to look elsewhere for the source is extremely weak in logic.
Critics say Beijing’s aim is to muddy the waters.
China’s Foreign Ministry held a briefing on March 12 with Professor Liang Wannian, the Chinese head of the WHO and Chinese team investigating the source of the new crown, who, on behalf of the joint WHO and Chinese investigation team, “suggested continuing the global search for possible early cases. viruses closest to the new crown (SARS-CoV-2) are in the vicinity, mainly in Yunnan province and one in northern Thailand. Therefore, the logic of looking abroad is extremely weak in terms of publicly available data.”
“What Beijing is doing is muddying the waters.” Hu Ping, editor-in-chief emeritus of Beijing Spring, said. “The implication is that the Epidemic is not coming from China, but probably still from foreign countries.”
But Hu Ping said it was Chinese virus expert Shi Zhengli who summed up the Sars outbreak by saying the first concentrated outbreak was in hospitals. “If there had been a New crown outbreak in 2019 in other parts of the world, such as the United States, Spain or France, earlier than Wuhan, China, health care workers would have inevitably had a large infection.”
But it is well known that this did not happen elsewhere, but did happen in Wuhan. Chinese Deputy Secretary General Ding Xiangyang told a news conference last March 6 that 3,000 hospital personnel in Hubei had been infected with the new coronavirus by the end of January.
China’s foreign ministry said this was the recommendation of the WHO-China team, but in fact the original tone of the “highly unlikely” laboratory escape hypothesis has been loosened since WHO experts left Beijing to investigate the case.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made it even clear at a Feb. 12 briefing that “all hypotheses remain open and require further analysis and research.”
It has been more than a month since the WHO mission to China left the country. The mission was scheduled to produce a preliminary report first, but then abruptly called it off.
The Biden administration welcomed it. White House spokeswoman Sachs said at a March 5 press conference that it was a positive development.
AFP reported on March 14 that there has been a tug-of-war between the U.S. and China on stage over the search for the source of the virus, with “U.S. and Chinese diplomats trading blows more than once as they await the report, with one side calling for greater transparency and the other insisting that the task can only be accomplished with scientific cooperation from Beijing.”
Indeed not only the United States, but also a number of international scientists have previously issued calls for a new WHO investigation into the origin of the new coronavirus.
Europe has also put pressure on the joint WHO and Chinese investigation report. Europe has also put pressure on the joint WHO and Chinese investigation report.
Walter Stevens, the European Union’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, recently called for the report to be “fully transparent” and to answer the question “we all have it,” according to AFP.
The South China Morning Post, which is owned by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, quoted commentators as saying on March 15 that the briefing was an attempt to reduce Western “misconceptions” about China and to address “discriminatory rhetoric” against the country.
Virologist Latham said the information released by Beijing’s foreign ministry suggests that China has searched the country for the origin of the zoonotic virus, but could not find evidence, “so this is its internal reason to investigate abroad.”
“If China had evidence of the origin of the zoonotic virus, they would certainly have presented it immediately to refute the hypothesis of a lab escape.” Latham said in a written interview in response to the Voice of America.
Latham’s analysis, judging from the modest suggestions made by the WHO in its recent press conference and subsequent interviews, such as suggesting that China should search farms near Wuhan, trace the market Food chain for signs of the virus and identify more early patients, “suggests collusion between the WHO and China in an effort to avoid losing face with each other. ”
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