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WHO urges countries to share information on Covid-19 origins as US, China spar over lab leak theory
- WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it has not abandoned any plans to identify the origins of Covid
- Beijing had angrily denied the FBI claim that the source of the pandemic was ‘most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan’
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The WHO on Friday urged all countries to reveal what they know about the origins of Covid-19, following US claims of a Chinese lab leak and furious denials from Beijing.
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FBI director Christopher Wray told Fox News television on Tuesday that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation had now assessed the source of Covid-19 pandemic was “most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan”.
The first infections with the new coronavirus were recorded in late 2019 in the Chinese city, which hosts a virus research laboratory.
Chinese officials have angrily denied the FBI claim, calling it a smear campaign against Beijing.
“If any country has information about the origins of the pandemic, it’s essential for that information to be shared with WHO and the international scientific community,” said the World Health Organization’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
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“Not so as to apportion blame but to advance our understanding of how this pandemic started so we can prevent, prepare for and respond to future epidemics and pandemics.
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