Experts investigating the origin of the new coronavirus will follow up on the initial report released this week, but details are still to be determined, World health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference Thursday (April 1).
“There will be a follow-up assessment, that’s what we expect,” he said at an online briefing. He also said “engagement” would begin as soon as possible.
In releasing the report on the investigation Tuesday, Tandse said some data was not available to investigators who traveled to China to look into the origins of the outbreak.
He agreed with the team’s conclusion that interviews with farmers, suppliers and their contacts of farmed animals are needed because “further research is critical to determine the role farmed wildlife may have played in introducing the virus to markets in Wuhan and elsewhere.”
The investigation team said it was highly unlikely that the virus was leaked from the Wuhan lab and would not investigate further on the matter. But Tandse said further investigation into this is needed.
“However, I don’t think this assessment is broad enough. More data and studies are needed to draw stronger conclusions,” Tandse said Tuesday. “While the panel concluded that a laboratory leak is the least likely hypothesis, it requires further investigation and possibly special expertise for other tasks, which I stand ready to deploy.”
The WHO chief promised to provide relevant information in a timely manner as the program progressed.
He re-emphasized at the Time that all hypotheses regarding the origin of the virus were under consideration.
“Let me say unequivocally that all hypotheses remain on the table as far as the WHO is concerned,” he said. “This report is a very important beginning, but it is not the end. We have not yet found the source of the virus, and we must continue to follow the science and will spare no effort to do so.”
Tandse said that while it will take time to find the source of the virus, it is their responsibility to find the source so that they can work together to take steps to reduce the risk of this happening again.
“One research trip won’t provide all the answers. It is clear that we need more research in a range of areas, which will require further fieldwork,” he said.
On Tuesday, the day the WHO released its report, 14 countries, including the United States, Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Israel, Japan and South Korea, issued a statement raising “common concerns” about the report.
The joint statement from the 14 governments said it was important to express concern about the serious delays in international expert research on the origin of the virus and the lack of access to complete and initial data and samples.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying accused the U.S. and other countries at a press conference Wednesday, saying, “This is conclusive evidence that they do not respect the scientific community’s retrospective political maneuvering.”
“Scientific missions such as this should be able to work under conditions that make objective and independent recommendations and findings,” the U.S. and 14 other countries said in a joint statement. The countries expressed concern in the hope of “paving the way for the next phase of timely, transparent, evidence-based procedures for research on the origins of the virus and the next health crisis.”
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