The World Health Organization (WHO) has abandoned its plans for another investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO cited difficulties in doing field research in China and "politics across the world," as reasons for the cancelation.
- The first phase of the WHO investigation led to a March 2021 report outlining
four possible scenarios for the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, with the
bat-human transfer hypothesis being designated as the most likely one.
- The report said that it was "extremely unlikely" that a lab leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was researching coronaviruses, was the source of the pandemic.
- Dominic
Dwyer, a virologist who served on the WHO team, said that the inclusion
of the "lab leak" hypothesis in the final report was opposed by Chinese
researchers and authorities.
- The first phase of the study was
meant to lay the foundation for in-depth studies into that and other
possible emergence scenarios, but Chinese authorities have made it
difficult for researchers to collect data.
- Some studies
associated with the planned phase two of the investigation have
proceeded, including an analysis of donor blood supplied to the Wuhan
Blood Center before December 2019.
- Researchers could not find
any COVID-19 antibodies in the 88,000 plasma samples collected between
September and December 2019 in Wuhan.
- Researchers
argue that investigations into the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus
should proceed so that public health officials and governments can
better prepare for future pandemics.
