An international group of scientists is calling for a new investigation into the origin of the virus that causes COVID-19 – arguing that the current research led by the World Health Organization is too limited 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 that half of the joint team convened as part of that process is made up of Chinese citizens whose scientific independence may be limited, that international members of the joint team had to rely on information provided. the Chinese authorities wanted to share. with them, and that each joint team report must be approved by both the Chinese and international members of the joint team, ”the letter reads.
The letter – signed by virologists, biologists and public health experts from countries ranging from France to India – states that the WHO team did not have the “independence” needed to properly conduct the research.
“We therefore concluded that the joint team did not have the mandate, independence or access to conduct a full and unrestricted investigation of all relevant hypotheses about the origin of SARS-CoV-2 – whether now involves natural spillover or laboratory / research related incident, ”states the letter.
Meanwhile, the WHO-led team is said to have released an interim report on its own findings by now – but scrapped that plan and will instead just release the full report, the Wall Street Journal revealed.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Feb. 12 that the team would publish the interim report summarizing its mission. The WHO team now plans to publish the summary when it releases the full final report in “the coming weeks,” said a WHO spokesman.
“A summary report, by definition, does not contain all the details,” said Dr. Ben Embarek, a food safety scientist who led the team, told the newspaper. So since there [is] so much interest in this report, a summary alone would not satisfy the curiosity of the readers. “
Earlier this month, a scientist from the WHO-led team said the virus likely started in China and “most likely” came from bats – despite the WHO’s official findings were inconclusive.
The news now comes as the US is lobbying for more transparency in the investigation, with officials saying Wuhan’s mission report should be scrutinized.
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 shipped to Wuhan, according to the Journal.