A team led by the World Health Organization looking for clues as to the origins of COVID-19 warned that its mission to the Chinese city of Wuhan is unlikely to give all the answers.
“We will not reach the fullest understanding of the origins of this virus, but it will be a good first step,” said Peter Ben Embarek, who is the WHO’s leading expert on zoonotic diseases originating in animals. Frace Press Agency.
Hung Nguyen-Viet, co-leader of the Animal and Human Health Program at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya, also tried to moderate expectations of the long-awaited visit to the original epicenter of the pandemic.
“I keep saying we need to be realistic, a short mission like this won’t have all the answers, but it helps advance the understanding of the # virusorigin #wuhan,” he said. he wrote in a tweet.
But Peter Daszak, a zoologist and animal disease expert, insisted the team has advanced since arriving in China.
“I see an image of some of the most plausible scenarios appearing as before,” Daszak said.
One possibility the group is studying closely is whether the virus could have spread elsewhere long before it was first identified in Wuhan.
“This is something our group is looking at very closely to see what level of community transmission could have been happening before,” Daszak said.
“The real work we’re doing here is to go back from the first cases to an animal reservoir, and that’s a much more convoluted path, which may have gone on for several months or even years.”
The team has been to hospitals, seafood markets and research centers during its trip, including a visit on Wednesday to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the laboratory at the center of unfounded speculations that was the source of the pandemic.
“Today, an extremely important meeting with WIV staff, including Dr. Shi Zhengli. Frank, open discussion. Key questions and answers, “tweeted Daszak.
Daszak later told Reuters that there was no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 came out of a laboratory.
However, researchers have so far only been on visits organized by their Chinese hosts.
“Of course, it’s impossible to know what they don’t tell you, but what I see in China and what this group sees in China is that what we asked for, we are allowed to do,” Daszak said.
With mail cables