An international group of scientists is calling for new research into the origins of the virus caused by COVID-19, arguing that the current probe led by the World Health Organization is too restricted by the Chinese government to be credible.
The WHO-led team, which traveled to Wuhan earlier this year, had “insufficient access” during the investigation, the group said in an open letter obtained by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
“We want to raise public awareness about the fact that half of the joint team convened under this process is made up of Chinese citizens whose scientific independence may be limited, which the international members of the joint team must rely on the information that the Chinese authorities chose to share with them, and that any joint report of the team must be approved by the Chinese and international members of the joint team, ”the letter says.
The letter, signed by virologists, biologists and public health experts from countries ranging from France to India, goes on to state that the WHO team did not have the “independence” needed to properly investigate.
“Therefore, we have come to the conclusion that the joint team did not have the necessary mandate, independence or access to conduct a full and unrestricted investigation into all relevant SARS-CoV-2 source hypotheses.” whether it is a natural spill or a laboratory / research-related incident, “the letter states.
Meanwhile, the WHO-led team was supposed to have already published an interim report on its own findings, but has rejected that plan and will instead only publish the full report, the Wall Street Journal revealed.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on February 12 that the team would publish the interim report summarizing its mission. The WHO team now plans to release the summary when it publishes the full final report in the “next few weeks,” according to a WHO spokesman.
“By definition, a summary report does not contain all the details,” Dr. Ben Embarek, a food safety scientist who led the team, told the newspaper. “So from there [is] so much interest in this report, that a summary alone would not satisfy the curiosity of readers ”.
Earlier this month, a scientist on the WHO-led team said the virus probably started in China and “most likely” came from bats, although official WHO results remain unfinished. .
The news comes as the U.S. is pushing for more transparency in the investigation, and officials say the Wuhan mission report needs to be examined.
Meanwhile, China is pushing for similar WHO-led missions to other countries, including the US, to investigate whether COVID-19 could have originated in frozen foods sent to Wuhan, according to the newspaper.