No new investigation in China, no additional data, no.politicization“: Beijing on August 13, 2021 sent a non-acceptance to the World Health Organization, which called for better cooperation on the origin of Covid.
The leakage hypothesis reinstated by the World Health Organization
The first coronavirus patients were identified at the end of 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan (center). The virus has since spread across the planet, killing more than 4 million so far. Scientists struggle to trace its origin. Transmission from an animal? Leak from a Chinese lab? Beijing strongly opposes this latter hypothesis, which does not want to appear responsible for the epidemic. A team of international experts sent by the World Health Organization visited Wuhan in January 2021 to conduct a study.first phase“On the origin of the virus. They produced a joint report in cooperation with Chinese specialists. The study estimated that transmission of the coronavirus from bats to humans via an intermediary animal was the most likely scenario. Then the experts judged.”never possible“That the virus comes from a laboratory. Washington defended it in the context of political competition with Beijing, but this last hypothesis was relaunched in recent months by the World Health Organization, which asked all countries on Thursday, especially China, to publish it.”All information about the virus“.”In order to be able to examine the ‘lab hypothesis’, it is important to have access to all the raw data“, on the organization, for whom”Access to data should by no means be a political issue“.
An aerial view of the laboratory of the Wuhan Institute of Virology P4 in May 2020, China. Source: Agence France-Presse / Archives – Hector Retamal
confidential medical information
Beijing responded on Friday by repeating its position: The China-WHO report has already rejected the theory of the Wuhan lab leak and that requests for additional data have ulterior political motives. “We oppose the politicization of the search for assets (…) and the abandonment of the joint report. We support scientific researchSpeaking at a press conference, Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said he rejected the WHO’s new demands.The findings and recommendations of the joint report were acknowledged by the international community and the scientific community.“, responsible person”.Research should, and cannot, be pursued in the future except on the basis of this report. It’s not about starting over. “
Regarding the preliminary data requested by the World Health Organization, in particular regarding the first patients in Wuhan, China again resorted to medical secrecy. “We just want to protect patient privacyLiang Wanyan, head of the delegation of Chinese scientists who collaborated in preparing the China-WHO report, told reporters on Friday.Without their consent, no foreign expert has the right to photocopy or copy the original data.. “
Members of the WHO team working on the origins of Covid-19 arrive at the Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, on February 3, 2021. Credit: AFP/Archives – HECTOR RETAMAL
Shocking statements from the Danish president to the delegation of international experts
The hypothesis of a laboratory leak has been reintroduced in recent months. It is even more so after the new shocking statements of Peter Embark, head of the Danish delegation of international experts who visited Wuhan in January 2021. In a documentary broadcast on August 12 by Danish public television TV2, the world was shown for the first time severely critical of Beijing. “Even 48 hours before the mission ends, we still don’t agree to mention the “lab thesis” in the report“After these exchanges, the WHO delegation finally got permission to visit two laboratories where research is being done on bats,” says Mr. Mubarak.We were able to talk and ask the questions we wanted to ask, but didn’t have the opportunity to refer back to any documentsSorry, Peter Embark.An injured employee (in the laboratory) in the field during sampling falls under one possible hypothesis. This is where the virus is transmitted directly from bats to humans.He added that none of the bats live in the wild in the Wuhan area, and that the only people who are likely to have come into close contact with bats suspected of harboring the virus that caused SARS-Cove-2 are, he said, employees of the city’s laboratories.