According to an international group of more than 20 scientists, which took place in a global pandemic a year ago, no credible study has been done on how it started.
“These signatories can not mislead anyone,” said Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Lijian also called out one of the group’s organizers, former National Security Council official Jamie Metzel.
“It is really unfortunate that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to attack our group of experts who raise only basic questions about the origin of COVID-19 and attack me personally, rather than address the very serious concerns that in our open letter, Metzel told Fox News.
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Metzel and the scientists called for changes at the World Health Organization to enable a complete, independent investigation into the origin of the virus. If not, they said countries should launch an inquiry, separate from the WHO.
“Critical reports and biological samples that can provide essential insights into the origins of pandemics remain inaccessible,” the scientists wrote in their open letter. “The best alternative would be for governments to seek a full and credible investigation into the origins of the pandemic in order to come together to develop a new and independent process, with China’s cooperation if possible, but without it.
Fox News State Department spokesman Ned Price asked if the government supported an outside investigation. Price said the United States wanted reforms at the WHO and insisted that the organization begin the next phase of its investigation immediately.
“We believe the WHO has great potential. It has great value,” Price said. “It is supposed to be a second phase of this study, and we encourage this phase to begin without further delay.”
Last week, the WHO released a report of a joint international and Chinese government inquiry. It was found that the virus probably jumped from bats to another animal and then to humans. It also claims that the theory that it leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology was unlikely.
‘No firm justification is provided as to why’ laboratory-related accidents’ should be considered ‘extremely unlikely’, according to the scientist’s letter. “It is at most unclear whether the Chinese joint study files had the space to assess their hypothesis in the presence of Chinese government officials.”
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Even the director-general of the WTO, dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the laboratory hypothesis should be further investigated.
It is also unclear whether the US government and its allies can successfully change the WHO and ensure sincere cooperation from China’s government.
“The first instinct of the Chinese government is not openness and transparency. It is veiled,” Metzel said. “One year after this terrible pandemic started, there is no process in place to fully investigate the origins of the pandemic that should scare everyone.”