Global Health Agency scientists say a new Chinese study published this week offers some “clues” about its origins, but no answers.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged China to share its information on the origins of COVID-19, saying all scenarios remained on the table until then.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday the global health body had asked China to cooperate in tracing the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Without full access to the information that China has, you can’t say this or that,” Tedros Adhanom said in response to a question about the origin of the virus.
“All hypotheses are on the table. That is the position of the WHO and that is why we have asked China to participate in this,” he added.
“If they did, we’d know what happened or how it started.”
More than three years after the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020, questions remain about the origins of the disease that closed borders, enforced lockdowns, devastated economies and killed millions.
The virus was first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, and many suspected it spread in a live animal market before spreading around the world. Meanwhile, others have put forward theories that the virus may have accidentally leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is less than 1 km (0.6 mi) from the market and is known for dealing with dangerous pathogens.
Last month, data from the early days of the outbreak was briefly uploaded by Chinese scientists to an international database.
It included genetic sequences found in more than 1,000 environmental and animal samples taken in January 2020 at Huanan Fish Market in Wuhan.
The data showed that DNA from multiple animal species – including raccoon dogs – was present in environmental samples that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, suggesting they were “the most likely causative agents” of the disease. , according to a team of international researchers.
However, in a non-peer-reviewed study published this week by the journal Nature, scientists at China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention disputed the international team’s findings.
They said the samples provided no evidence that the animals were actually infected. They were also taken a month after human-to-human transmission first hit the market, so even if they were COVID-positive, the animals could have contracted the virus from humans.
WHO’s Maria Van Kerkhove, chief technical officer for COVID-19, said the latest Chinese information offered some “clues” about its origins, but no answers. She said WHO was working with scientists to learn more about the first cases from 2019, such as the whereabouts of those infected.
She added that the health agency still does not know if some of the required research has been conducted in China.
The WHO has also asked the United States for original data underlying a recent study by the US energy department that suggested a laboratory leak in China likely caused the COVID-19 pandemic, she added.