The World Health Organization’s (WHO) new expert group, chaired by Marietjie Venter, just concluded its three-year-long exhaustive inquiry. Ultimately, they were unable to conclude with certainty that COVID-19 came from either a lab mishap or animal spillover. Overall, the findings illuminate a lack of the most critical data necessary to evaluate the lab accident theory. Most questions surrounding the virus’s emergence still go unanswered.
During a press briefing, Venter stated, “Therefore, this hypothesis could not be investigated or excluded.” This comment pretty well sums up the entire group’s fight to agree on the source of the virus. The team included 27 nationally recognized experts. Internal battles broke out when one member of the task force resigned and three others requested to have their names removed from the report.
As we outlined above, the expert group narrowed down to several species of animals that could have helped the virus transfer to humans. Among these were the intermediate hosts raccoon dogs, civet cats, and bamboo rats. Venter emphasized that most scientific data supports the prevailing theory that the new coronavirus likely jumped from animals to humans. This declaration is inspired by the findings of the first such investigation by WHO, conducted in 2021. That investigation determined that COVID-19 most likely jumped from bats to humans via an intermediary species.
In fact, as WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated many times during the pandemic, finding out where COVID-19 came from is a “moral imperative.” As of October 20, 2023, the pandemic has officially claimed a minimum of 20,000,000 lives globally. It has caused enormous economic harm, with global losses exceeding $10 trillion. The pandemic has disrupted the lives of billions worldwide, making the quest for clarity on its origins even more pressing.
The Chinese government vehemently denies allegations that the pandemic was caused by a lab accident. They continue to wave away these concerns, doubling down on their defense. Venter once again stressed that there is no scientific evidence to support the idea that COVID-19 was intentionally manipulated in a laboratory. In addition, she noted that there were no signs of the virus jumping countries prior to December 2019.
Efforts to investigate the origins of COVID-19 stumbled at the gate. What can be more alarming is an Associated Press investigation revealing that Chinese officials halted key domestic and international attempts to trace the virus’s origins. This was happening in the first few weeks of the 2020 outbreak. According to experts, such moves might have led to lost chances for a complete probe.
