As the World health Organization is set to release a report this week on the source of the new coronavirus, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday (March 24) that the United States believes the WHO’s investigation into the source of the virus requires further research, possibly including another visit to China.
Marc Cassayre, chargé d’affaires of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, told a news conference in Geneva on Wednesday that U.S. officials expect more work will be needed to determine the source of the new coronavirus.
“Under our presumption, it may require the team to make further research that may require a trip to China or further discussions,” he said.
The official also said he hoped the WHO mission that was investigating the source of the virus in the central Chinese city of Wuhan between January and February would then have had access to the raw data and personnel needed to make an independent assessment.
A panel of international experts and their Chinese counterparts is expected to release the lengthy report this week, the World Health Organization said.
Casasere said at a news conference:We hope it will be science-based and a real step forward in the world’s understanding of the origins of the virus so that we can better prepare for future pandemics.”
The WHO has delayed the release of this investigative report. The Biden administration had expressed “satisfaction” with it as a positive development. WHO official Ben Embarek, who is in charge of the investigation, said March 5 that investigators who have examined the origin of the new coronavirus in China will release a report on their findings in mid-March.
The World Health Organization’s investigation into the source of the new coronavirus has been plagued by a number of factors, including delays in the team’s travel to China, concerns about access in China and a spat between Beijing and Washington over the issue. The Trump administration has accused China of concealing the severity of the initial outbreak.
Some team members said China was reluctant to share important data that could show the virus was spreading months earlier than when it was first detected in late 2019.
WHO official Embarek had said at a news conference after the visit that the virus may have originated in bats, but it was uncertain how it spread to humans. He also largely ruled out the possibility that the virus originated from a laboratory leak.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus later said “all hypotheses are still under consideration” and promised full transparency.
After the WHO panel concluded its trip to Wuhan, a group of international scientists released an open letter March 4 calling on WHO to launch a new investigation into the origin of the new coronavirus.
“As scientists, social scientists and science communicators who have been working independently and together on the origins of New Crown, we believe it is critical that all hypotheses about the origins of the pandemic be thoroughly examined and that full access to all necessary resources be provided without regard to political or other sensitivities,” the scientists in the letter.
They conclude that the WHO panel of experts and the Chinese joint investigation team “do not have the mandate, independence or access necessary to conduct a full and unrestricted investigation of all hypotheses regarding the origin of the new crown – whether it is a natural spillover or a laboratory/research-related accident. -to conduct a comprehensive, unrestricted investigation.”
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