From General 16602
China did ‘little’ to investigate COVID-19 origin, leaked WHO report claims
Beijing has long insisted it was cooperating with efforts to trace the source of the COVID-19 pandemic. A damning new report suggests otherwise.
In the months following the emergence of COVID-19 in China, authorities did “little” to try to find the source of the infection, a leaked World Health Organisation (WHO) document claims.
The first cases of coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China in December 2019, with the virus soon moving to other countries across the world.
There have now been more than 111 million confirmed infections and more than 2.4 million deaths worldwide as a result of the virus.
China has continually claimed that the virus was circulating in other parts of the country before emerging in Wuhan, with officials even pointing the finger at countries such as Australia, India and the United States by claiming the virus was brought in through imported seafood and beef.
Now, an internal WHO travel report summary seen by The Guardian, has suggested Chinese authorities may have been dragging their feet when it came to investigating the origins of the outbreak.
The report, which was dated August 10, 2020, also claimed Chinese officials gave WHO scientists little information during their own investigation of the virus.
The report summarises WHO program manager and mission leader Dr Peter Ben Embarek’s trip to China between July 10 and August 3, 2020 to “review work done so far on the origin of the virus”.
During the trip, his team met with relevant ministries and agencies to discuss the emergence of the COVID-19 virus.
“Following extensive discussions with and presentation from Chinese counterparts, it appears that little had been done in terms of epidemiological investigations around Wuhan since January 2020,” the report stated.
“The data presented orally gave a few more details than what was presented at the emergency committee meetings in January 2020. No PowerPoint presentations were made and no documents were shared.”
The emergence of this document comes after a team of WHO scientists completed a more recent trip to China last month to further investigate the origins of the virus.
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/china-did-little-to-investigate-covid19-origin-leaked-who-report-claims/news-story/b94da8cab56f31e5297a08742f2a0d54