With novel coronavirus origins still not known, the World Heald Organisation has set up a new working group to analyse the initial transmission of the virus. This according to a representative of the WHO itself could be the last chance to scientifically explain the reason of the current pandemic, British public broadcaster BBC reports.
Earlier in 2021, a WHO team tasked with investigating Covid’s origins flew to China and concluded that the virus had probably come from bats but that more work was needed. Yet, the WHO’s director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, later said the investigation had been hampered by a lack of data and transparency from China. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has added now that «a lab accident cannot be ruled out».
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The WHO has nominated 26 experts to join the body, the Scientific Advisory Group on the Origins of Novel Pathogens (Sago). The team will consider if the virus jumped from animals to humans in Wuhan markets or leaked in a lab accident and look into the origins of other high-risk pathogens.
Michael Ryan, the WHO’s emergencies director, commented that the work of the working group may be the «last chance to understand the origins of this virus», BBC reports.
WHO’s new task force described as last chance to determine origin of coronavirus
