WHO says newly-formed SAGO group might be 'last chance' to find COVID origins

On October 13, the World Health Organization said that its newly formed advisory panel on dangerous infections could be the "last chance" to figure out where the SARS-CoV-2 virus origins, and encouraged China to give data from early cases. The World Health Organisation (WHO) named the 26 members of its Scientific Advisory Group on the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) on Wednesday.

Marion Koopmans, Thea Fischer, Hung Nguyen, and Chinese animal health expert Yang Yungui participated in the collaborative inquiry in Wuhan.

In December 2019, the first human cases of COVID-19 were detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. China has continually denied that the virus escaped from one of its laboratories and has stated that no further inspections are required. A WHO-led team spent four weeks earlier this year in and around Wuhan with Chinese experts, and concluded in a joint report in March that the virus was most likely transmitted from bats to humans via another animal, although more research was needed.

New WHO group for COVID probe emphasises need for detailed investigations

According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the investigation was impeded by a lack of raw data relevant to the outbreak's early days, and he has urged for lab checks.

Maria van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on COVID-19, expressed anticipation for additional WHO-led international missions to China that will enlist the country's participation. She stated during a press conference that more than three dozen recommended investigations are still needed to explain how the virus spread from animal species to human beings.

According to Van Kerkhove, Chinese testing for antibodies in Wuhan inhabitants of 2019 will be "extremely crucial" to determining the virus' origins.

Comprehensive examinations of the earliest known and suspected cases in China prior to December 2019 are still needed, including analysis of stored blood samples from 2019 in Wuhan and retrospective searches of hospital and mortality records for earlier cases, according to the WHO.

It stated that labs in the area where the initial reports of human diseases arose in Wuhan must be prioritised since ruling out an accident required sufficient evidence.

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