[Reading Science] The Origin Theory of COVID-19 in China Ultimately Remains Unclear

WHO "Abandons Phase 2 Study" Revealed

The international community's efforts to uncover the origin of the COVID-19 virus, which has swept the world since 2020, have ultimately been halted.

'Wuhan Pneumonia' First Outbreak Site Huanan Seafood Market

(Wuhan AP=Yonhap News) The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, the initial outbreak site of the so-called 'Wuhan Pneumonia' caused by the novel coronavirus, is seen closed on the 21st.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) quietly stopped the second scientific investigation into the origin of the COVID-19 virus, citing China's refusal to cooperate, according to a report by the international academic journal Nature on the 14th (local time), quoting WHO researchers.

The investigation into when, where, and how the COVID-19 virus emerged has been regarded as a crucial study for preventing potential future pandemics. After the initial outbreak report in Wuhan, China in 2019, the WHO visited Wuhan with Chinese researchers in January 2021, about a year later, to conduct an investigation. The first research results were announced in March of the same year, indicating that the COVID-19 virus spread mainly through four routes and that bats appeared to have played an intermediate host role.

WHO researchers then planned a second study to conduct an in-depth investigation into how the virus spread in China and other countries. This included several specific experimental studies. It involved collecting bats from border areas of China to find viruses related to COVID-19, aiming to identify which animals are vulnerable to the virus and could serve as hosts. There was also a plan to collect and analyze sewage and blood samples worldwide from late 2019 to early 2020.

However, Chinese authorities subsequently refused visits from WHO researchers and ceased cooperation. As time passed, it became virtually impossible to collect other necessary data to identify the virus's origin, let alone collect bats locally in China.

A bat known to be a carrier of the COVID-19 virus. Stock photo.

Accordingly, the WHO abandoned the second study. Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO researcher, told Nature, "There will be no second study. We had planned to conduct research in phases, but the plan changed," adding, "Global politics has severely obstructed the process of researching the virus's origin."

In fact, this 'research suspension' was already anticipated amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as conflicts arose between the United States and China over the virus's origin. Early in 2020, then-U.S. President Donald Trump and others claimed that the COVID-19 virus was created in a virus laboratory in Wuhan, China, labeling it the "China virus," which sparked widespread anti-China sentiment worldwide. China strongly denied this, stating it was untrue. The WHO also faced criticism over its objectivity due to substantial funding from China during the announcement of the first investigation results. At the end of 2021, the WHO formed the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) to emphasize objective research, and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus personally contacted Chinese authorities to request data sharing and cooperation, but to no avail.

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