WHO urges countries to clarify information on the origins of Covid

GENEVA – The WHO on Friday urged all countries to disclose their knowledge of the origins of Covid-19 after the US made claims of a Chinese lab leak and angry denials from Beijing.

FBI Director Christopher Wray told Fox News Television on Tuesday that the US Criminal Investigation Agency has now assessed that the source of the Covid-19 pandemic is “most likely a potential laboratory incident in Wuhan.”

Chinese officials have furiously denied the claim, calling it a smear campaign against Beijing.

“When a country has information on the origins of the pandemic, it is important that this information is shared with WHO and the international scientific community,” said World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“Not to blame, but to improve our understanding of how this pandemic began so that we can prevent, prepare for and respond to future epidemics and pandemics,” he told a news conference.

“WHO has not abandoned plans to identify the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.

In 2021, the United Nations health agency established what it called the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens, which identified key studies needed in China and elsewhere to test hypotheses about the origins of the pandemic.

– WHO urges transparency –

“WHO continues to urge China to be transparent in sharing data and to conduct the necessary investigations and share the results,” Tedros said, adding that he has written and spoken to top Chinese leaders on numerous occasions.

“Until then, all hypotheses about the origin of the virus remain on the table,” he said.

But he added that the continued politicization of origin research turned a purely scientific process into a geopolitical football, making the task more difficult – and thereby the world less safe.

The first infections were registered in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019.

Wray’s comments come after a report earlier this week that the US Department of Energy had determined that a leak from a Chinese laboratory was the most likely cause of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The department works with a network of national laboratories, including some that conduct advanced biological research. Other agencies within the US intelligence community believe the virus arose naturally.