China rejects WHO request for second COVID-19 origin probe, says 'impossible to accept'

China on July 22 rejected a World Health Organization (WHO) plan for the second phase of an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, which also includes the hypothesis that the pathogen could have leaked from a Chinese laboratory. The United Nations (UN) health agency had proposed this month for the second phase of studies into the origin of COVID-19 in China which would have included surveys of laboratories and markets in the city of Wuhan, calling for transparency from authorities. 

"It is impossible for us to accept such an origin-tracing plan," Zeng Yixin, vice-minister of the National Health Commission (NHC) told reporters, “We will not accept such an origins-tracing plan as it, in some aspects, disregards common sense and defies science.” As per reports, Zeng also said that he was taken aback when he first read WHO’s plan because it consisted the unproven theory that Chinese violation of laboratory protocols had caused the coronavirus to leak during research. 

We hope the WHO would seriously review the considerations and suggestions made by Chinese experts and truly treat the origin tracing of the COVID-19 virus as a scientific matter, and get rid of political interference," Zeng said while adding that China opposed politicising the WHO study as the COVID-19 origin remains contested among experts even after over a year of pandemic. The first registered case of COVID-19 was in December 2019 before spreading across the globe. While some experts believe that the coronavirus jumped to humans from animals being sold for food, others back the lab leak theory citing the genetic combination of the pathogen. 

China calls on WHO to expand probe to other nations

WHO proposed the second phase of COVID-19 origin after in May, the US President Joe Biden had ordered aides to find answers to questions over the origin saying that the American intelligence agencies were pursuing the contested theories potentially including the possibility of a leak from Chinese laboratory. However, in a news conference, Zeng along with other Chinese experts have called on the UN health agency to expand the origin-tracing efforts beyond China onto other nations. 

"We believe a lab leak is extremely unlikely and it is not necessary to invest more energy and efforts in this regard," said Liang Wannian, the Chinese team leader on the WHO joint expert team. However, Liang also added that the coronavirus lab leak theory could not be entirely dismissed. He suggested that if the evidence warranted, other nations are free to look into the possibility of the virus being leaked from their labs. 

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had said that he hoped for better cooperation and access to data from China regarding the lab leak hypothesis. He said, "I was a lab technician myself, I’m an immunologist, and I have worked in the lab, and lab accidents happen" while noting the "premature rush"  to rule out the theory that the coronavirus leaked from a Chinese government lab in Wuhan.

IMAGE: AP