WHO chief confirms follow up studies on COVID origin report, 'engagements' to start soon

Experts examining the origins of coronavirus first identified in China will follow up on an initial report released this week, but details are still not set, World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “There will be follow-up assessments, that's what we expect," he told an online briefing on April 1 adding that “engagement” is expected to start as soon as possible. 

Since the virus first jumped international borders, WHO has attracted flak from the west for being complacent towards China. However, earlier this year, Ghebreyesus finally stiffened his tone and sent a team of experts to investigate the origins of the pandemic. On Tuesday, March 30, the global health body released its first report compiled jointly by experts from WHO and China. In their report, they nullified that the infection originated in a Chinese lab. Although, they accepted that the coronavirus probably emerged in bats and then jumped off to humans via an intermediary animal. But, they said that there was not enough evidence to identify species or to pinpoint where the spillover first occurred. 

India calls for further studies 

Soon after the report was made public, India applauded the findings saying that it was an “important first step.” However, it warned WHO against the report being the final conclusion in the COVID-19 origins. In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs called for further studies, including an understanding of the earliest human cases and clusters.

“We share the need for a comprehensive and expert-led mechanism that would expeditiously investigate the origin of Covid-19 in cooperation with all stakeholders,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, according to a statement. 

Additionally, the United States, the United Kingdom and at least 12 other countries also condemned the World Health Organization's (WHO) latest report on the novel coronavirus' origin, as well as berated China for failing to disclose the raw data to the WHO’s investigative teams for probing initial cases from the outbreak. 

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