FACT CHECK: Update: China Misleads on Nature of Wuhan Coronavirus Research

On July 22, a senior Chinese health official said he was “shocked" by a recent World Health Organization suggestion that another round of investigations into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic was needed in China. Beijing both rejected the suggestion that another probe be conducted in Wuhan, where the pandemic erupted in December 2019, and the suggestion the virus might have escaped from a laboratory at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). That reaction was promoted by WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' call the previous week for an audit of the institute and other research organizations and relevant sites in Wuhan. Tedros, who said earlier investigative efforts had been hampered by a lack of information from China, called on China to help get to the bottom of the origins quest “by sharing all relevant data in a spirit of transparency.” Tedros said there had been a “premature push” to dismiss the theory that a lab leak could have seeded the pandemic. A 14-member WHO team visited China for 27 days in January and February. Their report initially concluded it was “extremely unlikely” the pandemic originated in a laboratory but added that “laboratory accidents do happen.” That report concluded it was far more likely the virus emerged naturally. Zeng Yixin, deputy director of China’s National Health Commission, said the calls for an additional investigation in China showed a “lack of respect for common sense and the arrogance to science in the proposal,” according to China’s state-run Global Times. LINK: https://bit.ly/38QjIIj