WHO 'Corona Origin' Investigation Team Member: "Wuhan Institute Leak, a Possible Scenario"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] Earlier this year, a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) investigative team leading the probe into the origin of COVID-19 in China revealed behind-the-scenes details related to the joint WHO report at the time, leaving open the possibility of the "Wuhan Institute leak theory."

According to major foreign media including The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 13th (local time), Dr. Peter Ben Embarek disclosed this in a documentary titled "Virus Mystery" aired on Denmark's public broadcaster TV2 the day before.

Dr. Embarek revealed episodes where the WHO investigative team and the Chinese research team clashed during discussions related to the report.

In March, after a four-week investigation in China, WHO announced through a joint report that the possibility of COVID-19 leaking from a Chinese laboratory was extremely low.

The doctor exposed that at the time, the Chinese research team opposed including content linking the origin of COVID-19 with the Wuhan Institute in the report.

He said, "At first, they did not want any mention of the laboratory in the report. However, we insisted that this content should be included as it was part of the issues related to the virus's origin."

After 48 hours of discussions, the Chinese research team stepped back to allow mention of the content but set the condition that no further research related to that hypothesis would be pursued.

Dr. Embarek suggested that the possibility of a lab leak, which WHO had dismissed, remains open by stating that laboratory staff interacting with bats are likely the initial infected individuals.

He said, "The hypothesis that an employee accidentally infected while collecting samples on site brought the virus into Wuhan is a plausible scenario. This satisfies both hypotheses that the virus leaked from a laboratory and that it was infected from bats."

Additionally, the doctor mentioned an interesting fact he learned incidentally while talking with Chinese researchers, stating, "It is an interesting fact that the laboratory was relocated in December 2019," adding, "This is when COVID-19 began."

He added that more information needs to be sought regarding the laboratory operated by the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

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