Covid-19
WHO calls for testing of laboratory thesis on virus origin
The coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) (orange) emerging from the surface of lab-cultured cells (grey). The sample was isolated from a patient in the United States. Photo: -/NIAID-RML/AP/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The search for the origin of the coronavirus is tough. China feels wrongly pilloried. A pure science council should help. But China, Russia and Brazil are preventing consensus there.
According to a new expert council, in the search for the origin of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus, the possibility of escaping from a laboratory must also be examined.
This was recommended by the independent expert council (SAGO) in Geneva, which the World Health Organization (WHO) launched in October 2021. The Berlin virus researcher Christian Drosten is also a member.
Research on corona viruses is being carried out in Wuhan in China, where the first Sars-CoV-2 cases appeared at the end of 2019. The necessary investigations include an “assessment of potential scenarios in which a failure of the biosecurity procedures has led to a possible laboratory-related infection with the investigated pathogen,” says the report. Council President Marietjie Venter emphasized that the recommendation says nothing about how likely the laboratory thesis is. Studies are also needed to disprove them. The most likely theory is that the virus jumped from an animal to humans via an intermediate host.
Rejection from China, Brazil, Russia
However, three members of the almost 30-strong panel did not want to support this recommendation: The scientists from China, Russia and Brazil recorded their rejection in a footnote of the report. China rejects the theory that the virus could have originated in a Chinese laboratory. And Beijing is refusing the arrival of another international group of experts to search for the origin of the virus. Numerous Chinese scientists belonged to the council. Nevertheless, numerous questions remain unanswered, said Venter – for example about the markets in Wuhan, the origin of animals and early possible corona infections in China.
The Council is to develop guidelines so that future investigations into pandemic outbreaks can be started more quickly. There was tension with the corona virus, especially between China and the USA. Former US President Donald Trump blamed China for the spread of the virus. Because of the tensions, the international experts were only able to enter China in 2021.
Everything will be done to implement the SAGO recommendations, said WHO corona expert Maria van Kerkhove. But this requires the cooperation of the countries.