More than two and a half years after the emergence of the Corona virus, and after counting at least 6.3 million deaths worldwide as a result of the pandemic, the World Health Organization has recommended that a deeper investigation be conducted to see if there is a laboratory accident that may be blamed for the outbreak.
This position marks a sharp regression from the United Nations Health Organization’s initial assessment of the origin of the pandemic, and comes after many critics accused the WHO of rushing to dismiss or downplay the laboratory leak theory that has put Chinese officials on the defensive.
Wuhan lab excluded
Last year, the UN agency concluded that it was “extremely unlikely” that Covid-19 had leaked to humans in the city of Wuhan from a laboratory.
While many scientists believe that the virus was transmitted to humans from bats, and possibly via another animal.
However, in a report released on Thursday, a group of WHO experts said “basic data” to explain how the pandemic began is still missing.
All evidence included
The scientists said the group “will remain open to all scientific evidence that will be available in the future to allow comprehensive testing of all reasonable hypotheses.”
It usually takes years to identify the source of disease in animals. It took more than a decade for scientists to identify the species of bat that was the natural reservoir of the SARS virus, which is from the Covid-19 family.
At the same time, the WHO expert group also noted that since laboratory accidents in the past caused some outbreaks, the highly politicized theory cannot be ruled out.
closing countries of the world
So the report could revive accusations that WHO initially over-accepted the Chinese government’s explanations early in the outbreak, ultimately killing millions of people and infecting millions more, forcing dozens of countries into lockdown, and hurting the global economy.
An Associated Press investigation found that some top WHO officials became frustrated with China during the initial outbreak, even as the WHO praised Chinese President Xi Jinping. And they were upset by the way China sought to clamp down on research into the origins of COVID-19.