The World Health Organization has unveiled a team of scientists that is set to reopen a stalled investigation into the origins of COVID-19, with one senior official saying it could be the last chance.
A group of 26 WHO experts will be tasked with developing a new global framework for studying the origin of new pathogens with epidemic and pandemic potential, and they are responsible for the Covid-19 Sars-CoV-2 virus.
WHO emergency director Michael Ryan said this may be “the last chance to understand the origin of this virus” in a collegial manner.
According to The Guardian, earlier this year, WHO announced the creation of a Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO).
Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead, said the new team will urgently assess what is now known, what remains unknown and what needs to be done quickly. “I expect SAGO to recommend further research in China and possibly elsewhere,” she said. “There is no time to waste with that.”
Earlier Wednesday, China’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Chen Xu, told the UN Correspondents Association that SAGO’s work cannot be “politicized.” “If we are going to send teams to other places, I think it should not be to China, because we have already hosted international teams twice,” the diplomat said. “It’s time to send commands to other places.”
In August, China rejected calls from WHO to reopen an investigation into the origins of COVID-19, The Guardian recalls.
In addition to the current COVID pandemic crisis, an increasing number of high-risk pathogens have emerged or reappeared in recent years, including Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), avian influenza viruses, Ebola virus, etc.
“The emergence of new viruses capable of causing epidemics and pandemics is a natural phenomenon, and although Sars-CoV-2 is the last of these viruses, it will not be the last,” said the head of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Understanding the origin of new pathogens is essential to prevent future outbreaks.”
The 26 members of the new team, nominated by WHO, were selected from over 700 applications representing a range of scientific disciplines. The team will have a two-week public consultation. Participants included Christian Drosten, head of the Berlin Institute of Virology; Yang Yungi from the Beijing Institute of Genomics; Jean-Claude Manuguerra from the Pasteur Institute (France); and Inger Damon of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Several experts participated in a joint WHO-China scientific mission to investigate the origins of COVID-19: Vladimir Dedkov, Farag Elmubasher, Tea Fisher, Marion Koopmans, Hung Nguyen and John Watson.
It is argued that the group should provide WHO with an independent assessment of all available scientific and technical results from global research on the origins of COVID-19. It should also advise the UN health agency on the development, monitoring and support of the next series of studies on the origin of the virus. This could include “quick recommendations” on WHO’s operational plans for the next series of studies on the origin of the pandemic, as well as recommendations for additional research.
The coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 4.85 million lives and has hit the global economy since the virus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, The Guardian recalls.
After a long delay, a group of WHO international experts traveled to Wuhan in January 2021 to prepare a Phase 1 report, co-written with their Chinese counterparts. Their March report is not clear-cut, but it evaluates four hypotheses. The most likely version is that the virus passed from bats to humans through an intermediate animal. According to the authors of the report, the leak from virology laboratories in Wuhan was “extremely unlikely.” However, the past investigation has been criticized for lack of transparency and access, and that the theory of laboratory leaks has not been analyzed more deeply.
See also: Search for the origins of coronavirus: China decided to study blood samples from Wuhan
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