Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

WHO calls on China to release data needed for Covid-19 origins probe, notes that ‘lab theory’ still on the table

WHO calls on China to release data needed for Covid-19 origins probe, notes that ‘lab theory’ still on the table

Responding to Chinese concerns over the probe into the ‘lab hypothesis’ of the pandemic’s origin, the World Health Organization said it wasn’t playing politics but seeking the necessary data and following the science.

In a statement released on Thursday, the WHO called on all governments “to depoliticize the situation and cooperate to accelerate the origins studies, and importantly to work together to develop a common framework for future emerging pathogens of pandemic potential.”


Searching for the origin of any new pathogen “is a difficult process, which is based on science, and takes collaboration, dedication and time,” the WHO said, adding that the search for the origins of SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes Covid-19 – “is not and should not be an exercise in attributing blame, finger-pointing or political point-scoring.”

It is important to find out how the pandemic began in order to “to set an example for establishing the origins of all future animal-human spillover events,” the WHO said, in phrasing that appeared to endorse the zoonotic origin hypothesis.

“Access to data is critically important for evolving our understanding of science and should not be politicized in any way,” the organization added, in what seemed to be a dig at China’s refusal to release information pertaining to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).

In July, Beijing rejected the WHO’s second-phase probe as going “against science.” Yuan Zhiming, the director of the biosafety lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, told reporters at the time that the WIV “has never designed, made or leaked the novel coronavirus.”

Addressing the Chinese concerns, the WHO said that the initial study in March found “there was insufficient scientific evidence to rule any of the hypotheses out,” and that to properly address the laboratory origin theory “it is important to have access to all data and consider scientific best practice and look at the mechanisms WHO already has in place.”

The WHO noted that Italy shared raw data and gave permission to re-test its samples abroad, reflecting “scientific solidarity at its best.” This is “no different from what we encourage all countries, including China, to support so that we can advance the studies of the origins quickly and effectively,” the WHO added.

Russia and the US keep samples of smallpox – the only human virus to have ever been eradicated – in secure labs, subject to inspection every two years, the WHO pointed out, adding that “[analyzing] and improving lab safety and protocols in all laboratories around the world, including in China, is important for our collective biosafety and security.”


The organization is “committed to following the science, and calls on all governments to put differences aside and work together to provide all data and access required so that the next series of studies can be commenced as soon as possible,” said a portion of the statement singled out by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhenom Ghebreyesus.

While the virus was first officially documented in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, the exact source of the infection remains a mystery. China has rejected the theory that it may have jumped from animals to humans at the Wuhan 'wet market,' but is particularly adamant that it could not have possibly originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, whether deliberately or by accident.

Some US intelligence analysts, along with the House Republicans in Congress, believe there is “ample evidence” that the virus escaped from WIV in September 2019. For more than a year, scientists – led by a US contractor who channeled National Institute of Health research grants to the WIV – had insisted the virus had evolved naturally in animals and jumped to humans somehow, denouncing the so-called lab leak hypothesis as a conspiracy theory.

Confronted with the revelation that his administration shut down its predecessor’s probe into the virus origins, US President Joe Biden tasked the country’s intelligence community with a 90-day review. US spies have reportedly hacked WIV databases and are currently trying to sort through the information contained there.


More than 205 million people have tested positive for Covid-19 since the WHO declared a pandemic in March 2020, and 4.33 million have died. The US has had the number of both cases and deaths, 36.4 million and 619,000, respectively.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×