Origin of the corona pandemic: China rejects further research

The WHO wants to continue researching the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but China refuses to release the raw data. The leadership in Beijing considers the demands to be politically motivated.

In the past few days, China’s state and party leadership has once again made it clear: It rejects another scientific international search for the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in China.

Government spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the report of the WHO mission from the spring must be the basis and guideline for the global search for the origin of the virus. Any attempt to overturn or falsify the final demands of the report is a political manipulation and a disregard for science.

Free research was not possible

Hua refers to the report of an international team of scientists from the World Health Organization who visited the central Chinese city of Wuhan earlier this year – after months of delay by the Chinese authorities.

The first Covid 19 cases became known in Wuhan at the end of 2019. The WHO researchers interviewed doctors there at the beginning of February and looked at data. According to participants, the WHO team was permanently accompanied by Chinese officials. The scientists could not really research freely.

New theories about the breakout

Accordingly, the final report presented after the trip contained more questions than answers. The Danish scientist Peter Ben Embarek led the WHO mission in Wuhan. A few days ago he brought a new theory about the virus outbreak into play on the Danish television channel TV2:

An employee of the state virus research institute in Wuhan could accidentally be infected – for example from an infected bat, said Ben Embarek. This theory needs further investigation. The Dane accused the Chinese leadership of a lack of willingness to cooperate.

“Critical” raw data

Last week, WHO headquarters in Geneva said: Access to the raw corona data from Wuhan is of “crucial importance” for further investigations into the origin of the pandemic. This is also important to test the theory of a laboratory accident. The World Health Organization stressed that all countries were called upon to enable the sharing of raw data and the re-examination of samples.

This appeal was apparently directed at the Chinese leadership. But she strictly rejects new research in the People’s Republic. She describes such demands as “politicizing” the matter.

An imposed pandemic?

Instead, the communist leadership has been launching campaigns via the state media for months: The corona pandemic did not start in China, but presumably in the USA or Europe.

Chinese diplomats have publicly repeated relevant conspiracy myths. There is no serious evidence for this. But many people in China are now convinced that the Covid 19 pandemic was forced on them by the United States.