US Health Secretary calls for 'transparent' second phase of Covid-19 origins investigation

US Health Secretary Xavier Becerra has urged the WHO to ensure that the next phase of investigation into Covid19s origins are more transparent and sciencebased amidst media reports here suggesting growing evidence that the virus could have emerged from a laboratory in ChinaIn March the World Health Organisation WHO issued a report written jointly with Chinese scientists on the origins of Covid19 saying the chances of it having started in a lab were extremely unlikelyBut the US and some other countries have raised concerns about the way the mission of the WHO experts was carried out in China including in Wuhan the epicentre of the outbreak and the lack of adequate cooperation from BeijingAlso Read Calls to probe Wuhan lab as source of Covid grow louder after latest investigative reportWHO DirectorGeneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has also agreed that further studies were needed into the viruss originsIn a video message on Tuesday at the annual ministerial meeting of the WHOs World Health Assembly Becerra called for a second phase of the investigation to be launched ldquowith terms of reference that are transparent sciencebased and give international experts the independence to fully assess the source of the virus and the early days of the outbreakIn his address Becerra did not mention China directly but his remarks came days after a Wall Street Journal report in which US intelligence officials are quoted saying three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the central Chinese city of Wuhan sought hospital care in November 2019 several weeks before China acknowledged the first case of the new highly infectious disease in the communityChina has angrily rejected the US media reports repeatedly suggesting the virus may have come from a US laboratory insteadOn Monday Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that the Wuhan Institute of Virology in a statement on March 23 had said that the premier lab had not been exposed to Covid19 before December 30 2019 and a zeroinfection record is kept among its staff and graduate students so farWhat is the real purpose for the US to continue to play up the socalled lab leak theory Does it really care about the origintracing of the virus or just want to divert attention We hope that the relevant departments in the US will make a clarification and explain that to the world as soon as possible Zhao said in response to a question at a foreign ministry briefing in BeijingDr Anthony Fauci senior White House health adviser and director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases said recently that he was also not convinced about the natural origins of the coronavirus and called for further investigationsIn his address to the World Health Assembly Becerra noted that the Covid19 pandemic not only stole a year from our lives it stole millions of livesNow we must honour our departed by taking urgent action this year to strengthen health security and pandemic preparedness so that we are better prepared for the next global health crisis he saidThis means improving global triggers so all countries take swift action toward the next biological threat he said underlining the importance of establishing a global health security financing mechanism that is sustainable with strong accountability and oversightIt would also mean developing surge capacity for the global manufacturing of personal protective equipment vaccines therapeutics diagnostics and the healthcare workforce the US health secretary saidBecerra also said the countries must also do more to understand our current pandemic and look forward toward detecting preparing and responding to future biological threatsAs member states of the WHO we need to come together and finish this fight against Covid19 our greatest test he said adding that all must fully implement and adhere to obligations under the International Health RegulationsWe need to improve transparency immediately share critical information about outbreaks with pandemic potential and strengthen health systems to withstand shocks Becerra said while calling for a strong and agile WHOThe White House said on Tuesday that it expected from the WHO an expertdriven evaluation of the pandemics origins that is free from interference or politicisationWe need access to the information that the Chinese government has in order to make a determination through the international bodies that would do this investigation And thats something we have called for many many times White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki saidAnd we have pressed with our international partners for the WHO to support an expertdriven evaluation of the pandemics origins We would certainly participate in that with all of our research ldquoresources from the United States she said in response to a question at a White House briefingThe lab leak claims were dismissed last year as a fringe conspiracy theory after thenPresident Donald Trump said Covid19 had originated from the Wuhan Institute of VirologyOn Tuesday Trump sought to take credit in a statement to the New York Post newspaper To me it was obvious from the beginning but I was badly criticised as usual he said Now they are all saying He was rightMeanwhile a group of prominent scientists with relevant experience recently criticised the WHO report for not taking the lableak theory seriously enough it was dismissed in a few pages of a several hundred page reportWe must take hypotheses about both natural and laboratory spillovers seriously until we have sufficient data the scientists wrote in Science Magazine earlier this monthThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever