Pandemic
WHO: China’s lack of corona transparency “inexcusable”
Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. photo
© Thibault Camus/AP/dpa
The UN health authority wanted to work with China to research the origin of the corona virus. More than three years after the start of the pandemic, Chinese data is still missing. According to the WHO, time is running out.
A representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) used unusually sharp words to warn China’s cooperation in researching the corona virus. The highest-ranking Covid-19 expert at the WHO, Maria Van Kerkhove, criticized in a comment in the renowned US journal Science that Chinese scientists had withheld data from virus samples from the metropolis of Wuhan for three years.
“The lack of disclosure of data is simply inexcusable,” wrote the epidemiologist, who has been informing the world public about the corona situation since the first infections in Wuhan became known. The WHO only learned about certain genetic information from the central Chinese metropolis in mid-March this year after it was briefly accessible on an international database.
Relevant data required
According to Van Kerkhove, the data provide important clues as to the importance of a market in Wuhan for the original spread of the virus. However, blood tests from workers at the live animal markets in Wuhan or the farms of origin of the animals are still necessary. The WHO expert called for the immediate provision of relevant data on the origin of the virus. The more time elapses, the more difficult the research work, which is important for preventing future outbreaks, becomes. “Time is running out,” she warned.
At the beginning of March, statements by FBI Director Christopher Wray in the United States rekindled speculation about a laboratory glitch in China as the origin of the corona virus. Van Kerkhove emphasized that as long as there is not enough information, all hypotheses about the origin of the virus are maintained. China has not yet provided the results of its laboratory tests. In addition, the WHO still has no access to raw data on the first corona cases in China.
Massive disinformation campaign
Since the beginning of the pandemic, China has worried about being blamed for the global outbreak. The government and state media have since pursued a massive disinformation campaign that highlights the possibility that the virus may have come from abroad and not originated in China. The rivalry with the US and the debate over the laboratory thesis have increasingly politicized the question of the origin of the virus. A joint commission of inquiry with WHO experts was only able to travel to Wuhan in 2021. The investigation was not continued.
“WHO continues to urge China and all countries to share all data on the origin of Sars-CoV-2 without delay,” Van Kerkhove wrote. “The world needs to move away from the blame game.” Instead, she should use all diplomatic and scientific approaches to work together, find solutions and thwart future pandemics.