New WHO group to look into COVID-19 origins

The World Health Organization, or WHO, is moving forward with plans to understand the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The WHO-established Strategic Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens, or SAGO, will be a group of experts acting in their own capacity, not as representatives of member states, and will play a vital role in studying the emergence of new pathogens, including the next phase of studies into the origins of SARS-CoV-2, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.

His comments come after the WHO issued an open call last week to scientists around the world to apply to SAGO.

During a media briefing on Wednesday, Tedros stressed that SAGO will not delay the progress of the studies into the origins of SARS-CoV-2.

"The report of the international team published in March outlined a number of studies that can be taken forward without delay. We have encouraged all parties to pursue those studies," Tedros said. "Even as we continue our work to understand how this pandemic started, we are also moving ahead with plans to strengthen the world's defences against future epidemics and pandemics."

On Wednesday, China's foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the country "always supports and will continue to participate in scientific origins study".

"China's position on the issue of global origins study is consistent and clear. Tracing the origins of the virus is a scientific issue. The conclusions and recommendations of the China-WHO joint study report have been recognized by the international community and the scientific community, and must be respected and implemented."

Wang added: "Future global origins study should and can only be carried out on this basis."

China's Wuhan Institute of Virology has received WHO experts twice and it is extremely unlikely that the novel coronavirus was leaked from the WIV — this is the clear conclusion of the China-WHO joint study report, Wang said.

Those who insist that the possibility of a lab-leak cannot be ruled out should investigate Fort Detrick and the University of North Carolina in the principle of fairness and justice, Wang added.

On Tuesday Chen Xu, China's permanent representative to the UN office at Geneva and other international organizations in Switzerland, wrote to Tedros, and submitted two non-papers to demand an investigation into Fort Detrick and University of North Carolina.

"The international community and the American people have long raised serious concerns over the illegal, non-transparent and unsafe practices at the Fort Detrick base," Wang said, adding that it is the center of US bio-military activities and has engaged in coronavirus research and modification.

The institute was shut down because of serious safety incidents in 2019, and after that, a disease with symptoms similar to that of COVID-19 broke out in the US. The US has not yet given any explanation on these problems.

The research team at the University of North Carolina has an extremely mature capability in synthesizing and modifying coronaviruses, said Wang.

"We urge the US to stop using the origins study to seek political manipulation," Wang said. "If it is bent on insisting the lab-leak theory, it should start with inviting WHO experts to launch a probe into Fort Detrick and the University of North Carolina to find the source of the virus."