The World Health Organisation team in Wuhan investigating the origins of COVID-19 say they are getting data “which no one has seen before” and are “really getting somewhere” – and have not ruled out the possibility that the virus had escaped from a lab.
Dr Peter Daszak, part of the ongoing WHO mission, told Sky News: “We are seeing new information and it’s good, it’s very valuable stuff that is beginning to help us look at the right directions for this virus.”
In his first interview with a British broadcaster since arriving in China, Dr Daszak, who is the president of EcoHealth Alliance, an NGO, said that site visits were offering valuable information – especially the Huanan seafood market, where the first ever cases of COVID-19 were clustered.
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Dr Peter Daszak, part of the WHO mission in Wuhan, China, investigating the origins of the coronavirus
“We are in the market looking around on our own and asking questions, we are meeting with market managers, with vendors who worked there and people from the community and asking them questions.
“We are talking to people who collected samples from the floor of the market that then tested positive. That’s the sort of information we are getting with the person that really matters.”
The WHO mission arrived in Wuhan more than a year after the outbreak there began, after the organisation complained about delays in access. But Chinese scientists have been conducting their own research into the origins of COVID-19 in the meantime. Dr Daszak said “there are little clues we are finding here and there in the wealth of data”.
“They are sharing data with us that we have not seen before – that no one has seen before. They are talking with us openly about every possible pathway. We really are getting somewhere and I think every member of the team would say that.
Read the full article at news.sky.com
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