Hunt for Covid origin not about blame game: WHO

July 24, 2021 00:14

All countries must work together to investigate the origin of the coronavirus that sparked the pandemic, the World Health Organization has said, a day after China rejected the proposed scope of a second phase.

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic, asked about Chinas rejection, told a UN briefing in Geneva: "This is not about politics, its not about a blame game. It is about basically a requirement we all have to try to understand how the pathogen came into the human population. In this sense, countries really have the responsibility to work together and to work with WHO in a spirit of partnership."

The White House said Chinas decision to reject the WHO plan for a second phase which would have a greater focus on a possible lab leak was irresponsible and dangerous.

Previously considered a crackpot conspiracy theory that was not permitted to be discussed on Facebook, there is growing pressure on China to investigate the part US-funded Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was working with coronaviruses; though most scientists still believe a zoonotic origin remains a more likely explanation.

State-backed Chinese newspaper Global Times cites officials claiming that no WIV staff have been infected with Covid-19, and that WIV has no viruses that can directly infect human beings.

No pathogen leakage or human infection has occurred in Wuhans P4 lab since it was put into operation in 2018, Yuan Zhiming, director of Chinas National Biosafety Laboratory and professor at the WIV, said.

Liang Wannian, team leader of the Chinese side of the WHO-China joint team on Covid-19s origins, said at a briefing the lab-leak theory was highly unlikely.

If some countries believe that further investigation in this area should be carried out, then the investigations should be conducted in labs that have not yet been inspected, Liang said.

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