An interim report by the World Health Organization (WHO) summarizing the investigation into the origin of the coronavirus outbreak in China has been dropped, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
Fox News could not immediately reach the WHO, but top scientists in the investigation team said the public’s demand for answers was too great to be supported in an interim report.
“By definition, a summary report does not contain all the details,” Peter Ben Embarek told the New York publication. ‘So there [is] so much interest in this report, a summary just will not satisfy the curiosity of the readers. ‘
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Following the return of the team from their month-long trip to China earlier this year, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus initially said that an interim report would be released within the coming weeks, with a full report to be followed .
The WHO investigation has been criticized for being limited and possibly jeopardized by the Chinese government.
A group of international scientists called for a new independent investigation into the origin of the coronavirus in a letter received by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, questioning the “scientific independence” of the Chinese individuals involved in the joint investigation.
‘Although the’ collaborative ‘discovery process commissioned by the World Health Assembly … was intended to enable a full investigation into the origins of the pandemic, we believe that structural constraints built into this effort are anything but impossible. make for the WTO call. to achieve this endeavor, ”the group of 26 scientists concluded.
The letter further stressed “that international members of the joint team had to rely on information that the Chinese authorities chose to share with them, and that any joint team report had to be approved by both the Chinese and international members of the joint team.”
The group doubts the ability of the investigation to adequately investigate the origin of the virus and answer whether the coronavirus pandemic was the result of a natural outbreak or [a] laboratory / research related incident. “
The WHO investigation was only investigated when Embarek said that any theory about an escaped virus from the Wuhan Institute of Virology was ‘extremely unlikely’.
U.S. officials in the Trump and Biden governments have expressed frustration over China’s continued opposition to coronavirus transparency.
Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said in an interview with PBS on Wednesday: “China was not fully and effectively transparent, either at the beginning of this crisis, when it mattered most, or even today. , as forward investigations try to undermine what happened. ‘
China, in turn, called for additional investigations into theories they put forward regarding the virus, which began outside China and was transmitted through frozen food in Wuhan.
But US officials in the food and drug industry, the suggestion that frozen foods may be the carrier of COVID-19 has been pushed back.
The WHO team arrived in China in January for a one-month trip, but two weeks of the investigation were quarantined, Reuters reported. The scientists were then supervised by Chinese guides and prevented from speaking to community members due to COVID-19 restrictions.
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“We can not afford an investigation into the origin of the pandemic which is less than absolutely thorough and credible,” the international group of scientists argued. “Efforts to date are not a thorough, credible and transparent investigation.”