What is the latest?
India has demanded a comprehensive and expert-led mechanism to expeditiously investigate the origin of coronavirus. This has come days after the World Health Organization (WHO) came out with a report on it that failed to meet expectations of the US, the UK and several other countries, which voiced concerns over the findings.
Our response to media queries on the recently released WHO-convened global study on the origin of Covid-19:https://t.co/uubL6XB8xA pic.twitter.com/2IlgXBZxQt
— Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) April 1, 2021
What did the WHO chief say?
The WHO’s chief Tedros Adhanom hardened his tone on China, urging further investigation into a theory Covid-19 sprang from a laboratory leak.
The director-general of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also rebuked China for sitting on key data.
Earlier Adhanom has been long accused of complacency towards Beijing.
What is WHO’s stand on China’s responsibility behind the pandemic?
The theory that the new coronavirus may have escaped from a lab in Wuhan was a US favourite under former president Donald Trump.
The team of international experts sent to Wuhan by the WHO early this year to probe the pandemic’s origins have also all but ruled it out.
The WHO chief’s comments came as the team tasked with probing the origins of the coronavirus pandemic issued a report on its roughly month-long visit to the central Chinese city.
What does the new report say?
The long-delayed report has ranked four hypotheses in order of probability.
But Tedros said that the probe into Wuhan’s virology labs had not gone far enough. He added that he was prepared to launch a fresh investigation.
WHO asks for more data from China
Tedros also urged China to be more forthcoming with data, something that several like the United States, Britain and Japan are calling for.
Tedros added to understand the earliest cases, scientists would benefit from full access to data stretching back to at least September 2019.
How has China reacted?
China’s foreign ministry said in a statement: “Actions politicising this search for the origins will only seriously hinder global cooperation in this regard, undermine the global anti-epidemic efforts and cause more loss of life.”