Bruce Aylward (right), head of the WHO-China Joint Mission on Covid-19, speaks at a press conference in Beijing on February 24, 2020. © Matthew Knight, AFP
Wall Street Journal: WHO Investigators to Scrap Plans for Interim Report on Probe of Covid-19 Origins
U.S-China tensions rise over investigation as group of scientists presses for fresh inquiry, including into lab escape theory
BEIJING—A World Health Organization team investigating the origins of Covid-19 is planning to scrap an interim report on its recent mission to China amid mounting tensions between Beijing and Washington over the investigation and an appeal from one international group of scientists for a new probe.
The group of two dozen scientists is calling in an open letter on Thursday for a new international inquiry. They say the WHO team that last month completed a mission to Wuhan—the Chinese city where the first known cases were found—had insufficient access to adequately investigate possible sources of the new coronavirus, including whether it slipped from a laboratory.
Their appeal comes as the U.S.—which recently reversed a decision to leave the WHO—lobbies for greater transparency in the investigation, saying it is waiting to scrutinize the report on the Wuhan mission, and urging China to release all relevant data, including on the first confirmed infections in December 2019, and potential earlier ones.
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Update: WHO Won’t Release Interim Report On COVID-19 Origins Amid Growing Scientific Concerns Over Legitimacy Of Its Investigation (Daily Caller)
WNU editor: WHO will not issue an interim report bcause they know that when independent experts view the data, it will expose the WHO's investigation to be inadequate and incomplete.
