Investigations into the origin of COVID-19 includes several ongoing investigations and commissions being conducted by governments and international organisations.
Unknown Origins
The origin of COVID-19 currently remains unknown. While it is agreed that the virus originated in bats, its exact evolutionary history, the identity and provenance of its most recent ancestors, and the place, time, and mechanism of transmission of the first human infection, remain unknown. [1][2]
Chinese Government investigations
The first investigation conducted in China was by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission, responding to hospitals reporting cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology, resulting in the closure of the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market on 1 January 2020 for environmental sanitation and disinfection. Chinese national authorities informed the WHO China Country Office of these cases on 31 December 2019.[3]
US Government investigations
On February 6 2020, the director of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, requested the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a meeting of "experts, world class geneticists, coronavirus experts, and evolutionary biologists", to "assess what data, information and samples are needed to address the unknowns, in order to understand the evolutionary origins of COVID-19 and more effectively respond to both the outbreak and any resulting information".[4]
On January 04 2021, The Times's reported that Matthew Pottinger, the then Deputy National Security Advisor claimed to have a whistleblower former scientist from the Wuhan Institute of Virology working with US intelligence services, revealing that the laboratory was linked to the Chinese military which may have been using its research for dual use. [5]
On January 15 2021, the US State Department published a "fact sheet", stating that the US government isn't sure if the outbreak of the virus began "through contact with infected animals" or as a result of "an accident at a laboratory" in Wuhan. The fact sheet stated "U.S. government has reason to believe that several researchers inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses". The fact sheet further stated that the institute had "engaged in classified research, including laboratory animal experiments, on behalf of the Chinese military since at least 2017".[6][7]
World Health Organization investigation
In mid 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) began negotiations with the government of China on conducting an investigation into the origins of COVID-19. On 5 November 2020, the WHO published a "terms of reference" document for a "WHO-convened Global Study of the Origins of SARS-CoV-2" based on terms agreed in their negotiations with the government of China. The terms of reference outline a first phase of study to better understand how the virus "might have started circulating in Wuhan", and a second phase of longer-term studies based on its findings. [8]
The WHO formed a team of thirteen researchers with expertise in virology, public health and animals to conduct investigations.[9]
On 14 January 2021, the WHO's investigation team arrived in Wuhan, China.
The Lancet COVID Commission task force
On November 23, 2020, an international task force led by Dr. Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, was formed as part of The Lancet COVID-19 Commission, chaired by Dr. Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University. Daszak stated that the task force was formed to "conduct a thorough and rigorous investigation into the origins and early spread of SARS-CoV-2". The task force has 12 members with backgrounds in One Health, outbreak investigation, virology, lab biosecurity and disease ecology. [10]
See also
- COVID-19
- Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
- World Health Organization's response to the COVID-19 pandemic
References
- ^ https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/who-convened-global-study-of-the-origins-of-sars-cov-2
- ^ https://www.pnas.org/content/117/47/29246
- ^ "WHO | Pneumonia of unknown cause – China". WHO.
- ^ "Oracle Content and Experience" (PDF). www.nationalacademies.org.
- ^ https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/biological-weapons-lab-leaked-coronavirus-claims-us-official-tfw829wxh
- ^ https://www.state.gov/fact-sheet-activity-at-the-wuhan-institute-of-virology/
- ^ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/16/mike-pompeo-pushes-new-claim-china-hiding-virus-origin/
- ^ "WHO-convened Global Study of the Origins of SARS-CoV-2". www.who.int.
- ^ Mallapaty, Smriti (December 2, 2020). "Meet the scientists investigating the origins of the COVID pandemic". Nature. 588 (7837): 208–208. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03402-1 – via www.nature.com.
- ^ Sachs, Jeffrey D.; Karim, Salim Abdool; Aknin, Lara; Allen, Joseph; Brosbøl, Kirsten; Barron, Gabriela Cuevas; Daszak, Peter; Espinosa, María Fernanda; Gaspar, Vitor; Gaviria, Alejandro; Haines, Andy; Hotez, Peter; Koundouri, Phoebe; Bascuñán, Felipe Larraín; Lee, Jong-Koo; Pate, Muhammad; Polman, Paul; Reddy, Srinath; Serageldin, Ismail; Shah, Raj; Thwaites, John; Vike-Freiberga, Vaira; Wang, Chen; Were, Miriam Khamadi; Xue, Lan; Zhu, Min; Bahadur, Chandrika; Bottazzi, Maria Elena; Amor, Yanis Ben; Barredo, Lauren; Caman, Ozge Karadag; Lafortune, Guillaume; Torres, Emma; Ethridge, Ismini; Bartels, Juliana G. E. (October 10, 2020). "Lancet COVID-19 Commission Statement on the occasion of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly". The Lancet. 396 (10257): 1102–1124. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31927-9. PMID 32941825 – via www.thelancet.com.