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COVID-19 lab conspiracy theory ‘extremely unlikely’, animals possible source ─WHO

*The World Health Organisation-led investigation team concludes mission, discloses the fatal COVID-19 could have been introduced to the Huanan wet market in Wuhan, China, by an infected person or by animal host, frozen wildlife products sold there as possible routes

*We clearly support this investigation… but I wouldn’t want to be conclusive yet about any sort of cooperation that the WHO may or may not have received from China ─US Department of State spokesman Ned Price

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

In connection with the much talked-about real source of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Wuhan, amid several ‘conspiracy theories’ worldwide, a World Health Organisation-led investigation in China has found the virus most likely jumped to humans through an animal host, or frozen wildlife products.

The global health body stated in a published report that it is “extremely unlikely” it came from a laboratory leak, agency report said.

Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO food safety scientist, told reporters Tuesday, February 9 at a joint briefing with China in Wuhan, the city where COVID-19 first mushroomed at the end of 2019, that no further research is needed to look into the theory about a probable laboratory leak.

It was learnt hitherto the speculation had been promulgated by former US President Donald Trump and some others around the world.

The WHO food safety scientist stated the virus could have been introduced to the Huanan wet market in Wuhan, which many of the first COVID patients were linked to, by a person who was infected or by a product that was sold there.

He stated: “Among the more interesting products were frozen wildlife animals.

“Some of these species are known to be susceptible to these kinds of viruses.”

The highly anticipated mission followed months of negotiation with a defensive China to facilitate and cooperate with the probe.

Stung by criticism that it initially covered up the extent of the crisis, Chinese state media and officials have promoted the theory that the virus didn’t start in China, but was brought in, report noted.

The WHO’s validation of a potential cold-chain transmission route is likely to bolster those efforts.

Unpublished instances of SARS-CoV-2 detections that showed the virus was present outside China before COVID-19 cases emerged in Wuhan indicate origins studies need to be widened to other countries, Liang Wannian, who headed the team of Chinese experts working with the WHO, told the briefing in Wuhan.

The US Department of State spokesman Ned Price told reporters Tuesday, in Washington, that the country expressed concerns regarding the need for full transparency and access from China, and the WHO to all information regarding the earliest days of the pandemic, and cast doubt about Liang’s argument.

Price contended that “I don’t think there is any reasonable person who would argue that the Coronavirus originated elsewhere.

“We clearly support this investigation. We recognise there is an urgent need for an investigation.

“But I wouldn’t want to be conclusive yet about any sort of cooperation that the WHO may or may not have received from China.”

The team of investigators examined tens of thousands of patient samples from Wuhan prior to the emergence of sick people in 2019.

There was no evidence of significant outbreaks in the country before December 2019, WHO officials said.

Ben Embarek added: “We embarked on a very detailed and profound search for other cases that may have been missed early on in 2019.

“The conclusion was we did not find evidence of large outbreaks that could be related to cases of COVID-19 prior to December 2019 in Wuhan or elsewhere.”

The panel, comprising 17 Chinese and 17 international experts, looked for clues to understand how SARS-CoV-2 ─ whose closest known relative came from bats 1,000 miles away ─ spread explosively in Wuhan before causing the worst contagion in more than a century.

Mission delegates worked in three groups that focused on the epidemiology or spread of the disease, the potential involvement of animals and the environment, and the molecular evolution of the virus.

It is yet believed that finding the source will inform efforts at stopping the virus, and other pathogens with pandemic potential, spilling over into human populations.

Worldwide, COVID-19 has caused more than 106 million infections and 2.3 million deaths, according to report.

Researchers found a Coronavirus related to SARS-CoV-2 in bats at a wildlife sanctuary in Thailand, according to a study released Tuesday in the Nature Communications journal, another indication of how widespread such viruses are.

While highly similar to the Coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the Thai version doesn’t appear adapted to spread in humans by the same mechanism, researchers from Thailand and Singapore said in the report.

Ben Embarek, therefore, stated scientists still don’t understand if the virus can spread to humans after persisting in frozen conditions, and how that would occur.

More work is needed to study that possible path and trace the source of animal products.

According to him, “it’s interesting to explore if a frozen wild animal that was infected could be a potential vehicle for the introduction of the virus into market environments where we know the temperature, humidity, environment could be conducive to rapid spread of the virus.”

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