Scientists slam WHO's report, calls for further investigation into COVID-19 origins
Geneva [Switzerland], May 19 (ANI): A group of scientists have slammed the World Health Organisation (WHO) for their report into the origins of COVID-19 in Wuhan and demanded a further investigation.
ANI
May 19, 2021 23:20 IST
Geneva [Switzerland], May 19 (ANI): A group of scientists have slammed the World Health Organisation (WHO) for their report into the origins of COVID-19 in Wuhan and demanded a further investigation.
According to express.co.uk, scientist Lord Ridley said that the WHO's investigation into the origins of coronavirus in China "farcical".
The WHO report on the origins of coronavirus was released in March and concluded it is "extremely unlikely that coronavirus, which has killed millions across the world, originated in a lab in China".
The report found that transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario.
However, over a dozen countries raised concerns over the report, arguing that the WHO team was "significantly delayed and lacked access to complete, original data and samples."
Ridley comments come as a group of scientists have written a letter accusing the WHO of failing to properly investigate whether COVID-19 was leaked from a Wuhan lab and demanding a further investigation.
A report by the WHO concluded there were no links between the virus and the suspect lab in Wuhan. But WHO investigators on the trip to Wuhan detailed how they were escorted at all times by officials and barred from accessing specific sites in what many believe was an attempted cover-up from the Chinese Government, reported express.co.uk.
"Theories of accidental release from a lab and zoonotic spillover (from animals to humans) both remain viable, more investigation is needed to determine the origins of the pandemic," the letter from the scientists reads.
Ridley said, "I think the WHO's investigation in January and February was so farcical that it has backfired."
"Most people quite sensibly have looked at that and said 'hang on you have got no evidence for the claims you are making and no evidence against the lab leak as a result of this investigation... So this letter is signed by some very important people," he said. (ANI)
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