The Chief of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has urged Beijing to grant ‘full access’ and offer more information on the origins of COVID-19, the Financial Times reported on Sunday (17 September). He also claimed that the world health body is ready to send a second team to probe the matter if Beijing allows it.
Tedros said, “We’re pressing China to give full access, and we are asking countries to raise it during their bilateral meetings — [to urge Beijing] to cooperate. We have already asked in writing to give us information . . and also [are] willing to send a team if they allow us to do so.”
While scientists are in agreement that the world has moved past the acute phase of the pandemic, the global health body has urged nations to increase surveillance of the highly mutated BA.2.86 and other Omicron subvariants.
During the UN’s General Assembly in New York next week, World leaders, for the first time, will discuss pandemic preparedness at high-level meetings.
Speaking with Financial Times, Tedros said that he travelled to Beijing in order to convince Chinese President Xi Jinping in January 2020 to allow the first Covid-19 mission of WHO experts into the country. Back then, the mission was led by the health body’s Bruce Aylward.
There were two prominent theories regarding the origin of Covid-19. There was hypotheses that either a zoonotic jump from animals to humans via Wuhan’s wet food markets or contagion stemming from an accidental leak from the city’s virology laboratory started the pandemic.
Initially, the market theory was accepted and propagated by governments, including the US govt. But now it is generally agreed by all that the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. It is believed that the virus was leaked accidentally while researchers were conducting studies on it.
While speaking with the Financial Times, Tedros reiterated that all options still remain “on the table”.
He said, “Unless we get evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, we cannot just say this or that.” But he believes “we will get the answer. It’s a matter of time.”
Regarding his meeting with Xi, Tedros said, “I went and met the president. The officials below him were not willing to allow us to send a team. So I had to travel to convince him why it’s so important.”
The WHO has been accused of being submissive regarding China’s slow initial response and health experts criticise arguing that China’s slow and opaque response enabled global transmission rates to spread beyond its borders.
However, Tedros rejected this and stated that the organisation collaborated with China as it took steps to limit the virus. He said the WHO then openly criticised Beijing when it did not allow the health body to effectively probe the origins of Covid-19.
In 2021, the WHO went back to China to undertake its first origins mission but it returned with an inconclusive and highly criticised report, citing Beijing’s lack of cooperation as a factor.
Tedros said, “On the origin study, since they are not giving us full access, we started discussions in private and then when they refused to cooperate, we made it public.”
He added, “If we know [the origin], then we can prevent the next one. So it’s science. It will not be morally correct if we don’t know what happened.”
However, he claimed that the pandemic was politicised from the start. Four years after the first case was reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan, there are still no answers for “all those who have paid for this pandemic”, Tedros said the coronavirus crisis had made many governments realise the value of boosting their health systems’ resilience.