WHO Secretary-General: "China's Laboratory Must Be Included in Phase 2 Investigation of COVID-19 Origin"

Secretary-General Tedros urges transparent data sharing with China

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), has called for the inclusion of Chinese laboratories in the second phase of the investigation into the origins of COVID-19. This has drawn attention to whether further investigations will be conducted regarding the theory that COVID-19 leaked from a Chinese laboratory.

On the 16th (local time), Director-General Tedros reportedly told WHO member states in a closed briefing that the second phase of the COVID-19 origin investigation should include additional research and laboratory audits within China. He also requested further studies on the animal market in Wuhan, China, where COVID-19 was first reported in December 2019.

Director-General Tedros emphasized, “We expect China to support the next steps of the scientific process by transparently sharing data,” adding, “Identifying the origin of COVID-19 is essential to preventing future outbreaks of infectious diseases.”

So far, WHO has faced criticism for insufficient investigation into the origins of COVID-19. In a report released in March this year, WHO stated that the possibility of the “Wuhan laboratory origin theory” was extremely low, placing more weight on the hypothesis that COVID-19 originated from bats and was transmitted to humans via an intermediate host. However, as Western countries raised concerns that the Chinese government restricted the WHO investigation team’s access, preventing a transparent and thorough investigation, the need for a transparent investigation into laboratories has emerged.

In response, U.S. President Joe Biden ordered intelligence agencies in March to analyze whether COVID-19 originated from animals or a laboratory accident. Furthermore, immediately after the G7 summit on the 13th of last month (local time), he pressured China by stating that access to Chinese laboratories must be allowed to identify the origin of COVID-19 and prevent other pandemics. Accordingly, the G7 leaders, including President Biden, urged China in a joint statement to cooperate with WHO’s second phase investigation.

On the other hand, China has countered by calling the laboratory origin theory a political conspiracy. On the 16th, Zhao Lijian, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated, “WHO had concluded that the possibility of COVID-19 leaking from a laboratory was very low,” and argued that further investigations should be decided through negotiations among WHO member states.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.