A team of experts will travel to China to investigate how the virus transmitted to humans and caused the global disaster, according to plans made public by the World Health Organization (WHO).
A preliminary examination by the UN health agency in 2021, which involved sending a team of scientists to Wuhan, the outbreak’s epicentre, came to the conclusion that COVID-19 evolved spontaneously.
Beijing allegedly refused to talk about the lab leak scenario unless the final report found no need for further investigation and withheld important information and samples.
Now, Beijing has received a letter from WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus requesting “full access” and stating that investigators were prepared to travel there.
Read Also: WHO, US Health Authorities Tracking New Covid-19 Variant
“We’re pressing China to give full access,” he told the Financial Times.
“We have already asked in writing to give us information…and also [are] willing to send a team if they allow us to do so.”
The WHO launched its first investigation into the causes of COVID-19 in 2021, but it was heavily criticized and characterised by a lack of collaboration from Xi Jinping’s government.
The WHO has once again expressed its willingness to criticize China for its lack of transparency about COVID-19 in light of Dr. Ghebreyesus’ remarks.
After nearly four years since the virus’s first instances started to show up in Wuhan, researchers are still no closer to understanding where it came from.
The Covid pandemic’s origins must be understood, according to scientists, in order to stop similar outbreaks in the future.
Leading virologists who support the natural origins explanation think the virus started in bats and infected a transitional animal, perhaps a pangolin, before infecting humans.
Studies suggest that the hub of the outbreak was the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan. In December 2019 and January 2020, several of the initial instances had been to the location where live animals were sold.