![]() ![]() Open scientific debate is crucial to reach a high standard of conclusions. COVID ORIGIN FULLThe identification of the source of the SARS-CoV-2 virus will require full and transparent cooperation by all WHO Member States and a collaborative effort by scientists from various disciplines. ![]() Every lack or delay in sharing public health information can have worldwide adverse impact and we call on all Member States to continue sharing public health information with WHO as soon as it is available, in order to better inform and drive responses. Global health is a common responsibility for all WHO Member States. We are hopeful that such an approach will help us in our common efforts and that any gaps in data needed to further the investigation can be addressed. We encourage full collaboration and continued support of all relevant authorities regarding the next steps of the study. We also request that the DG allocate the resources necessary to complete this work. We request the WHO to continue the studies and present a clear timeline for the follow-up work, and we wish to be regularly briefed on plans for, and progress of, its next phases. This will require further and timely access to all relevant locations and to all relevant human, animal and environmental data available, including data from the first identified COVID-19 cases and cases picked up by surveillance systems, as well as further serologic testing of blood samples. We are looking forward to further engagement with the Secretariat and the experts on the content of the report as well as on the implementation of its recommendations.Īs outlined in the report, further work will have to be pursued to understand the origin of SARS-CoV-2 and its introduction into the human population. While regretting the late start of the study, the delayed deployment of the experts and the limited availability of early samples and related data, we consider the work carried out to date and the report released today as a helpful first step. Hence, we express our support for a science-based, transparent and independent WHO-convened Global Study of the Origins of SARS-CoV-2, where timely access to data and field missions play a critical role. Only through a thorough review of the origins of the virus and its transmission into the human population, will we be able to better understand and control this pandemic, and to better prevent and prepare for future health emergencies. In Resolution WHA73.1 on the COVID-19 response, Member States agreed on the need for further work to study the origins of the virus and its route of introduction to the human population, including through scientific and collaborative field missions and through WHO’s close cooperation with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and countries, in line with a One Health Approach, which will enable targeted interventions and a research agenda to reduce the risk of similar events occurring. Professor Dominic Dwyer, director of public health pathology in NSW and a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) team that travelled to Wuhan last year to investigate the origins of the virus, agrees.Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the EU and its Member States, while implementing relevant public health measures at the national level, have been a driving force for the mobilization of the international community to support WHO’s leadership role in the health response to the pandemic, which remains the global priority. “In terms of what we can reasonably do, with the available science and the science we’ll get in the foreseeable future, I think we’re at the end of the road frankly. ![]() “The siren has definitely sounded on the lab leak theory,” says Professor Edward Holmes, a world-leading viral evolution expert based at the University of Sydney and co-author on both the papers. They have old photos of caged raccoon dogs – known carriers of COVID-19 – being sold there. The authors have even found the most likely section of the market. ![]() The virus almost-certainly jumped from wildlife into humans in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, the papers argue. With a pair of articles published in Science last week (you can read them here and here), they say they are at the end of their search. Meanwhile, a group of scientists has been working on their own parallel investigative effort. ![]()
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