China rejects WHO plan to revisit Wuhan lab leak theory

The work plan on the second-phase origins study contains language that does not respect science, says the vice minister of the National Health Commission

China on Thursday categorically rejected the WHO’s plan for the second phase of coronavirus origin-tracing in Wuhan, especially to probe the lab leak theory, as it dismissed reports that some of the employees of the facility were infected with the deadly virus before it spread to the city and the world.

China will not follow the World Health Organisation’s suggested plan on the second phase of Covid-19 origin-tracing, Zeng Yixin, vice minister of the National Health Commission (NHC), told a media briefing. The work plan on the second-phase origins study proposed by the WHO contains language that does not respect science, he said.  

China’s broadside against the WHO and its Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who previously won Beijing’s praise and support for praising President Xi Jinping’s handling of the coronavirus, came after he asked China to be transparent and provide raw data. 

Zeng said the plan has listed the hypothesis that China had violated lab regulations and leaked the virus as one of the major research objectives, and he was “very shocked” after reading the proposal, state-run China Daily reported. Instead, next-phase origin tracing should focus on various regions and countries, he said, reiterating Beijing’s oft-repeated claim the coronavirus broke out in several places in the world and China was the first to report it in December, 2019 when it emerged in  Wuhan. He said WHO’s work plan has been compromised by political manipulation and disrespect of scientific facts. He said China had allowed WHO experts to visit all places they wanted and meet all people they wanted to early this year, adding results of the WHO-China joint study are able to stand the test of time.  “We hope WHO can carefully consider the advice by Chinese scientists, take investigating the origin of  Covid-19 virus as a scientific question free from political interference, and proactively and properly conduct sustained investigations into origin of the virus in various countries across the world,” he said. Zeng dismissed reports three employees of Wuhan Institute of Virology from where the US alleges the virus may have been leaked, fell sick shortly before first documented cases of Covid-19.

Death rates soar in Southeast Asia

Indonesia has converted nearly its entire oxygen production to medical use just to meet the demand from Covid-19 patients struggling to breathe. Overflowing hospitals in Malaysia had to resort to treating patients on the floor. And in Myanmar’s largest city, graveyard workers have been laboring day and night to keep up with the grim demand for new cremations and burials. In the last two weeks the three Southeast Asian nations have now all surpassed India’s peak per capita death rate as a new coronavirus wave, fueled by the delta variant, tightens its grip on the region. 

France now in fourth wave 

French Prime Minister Jean Castex confirmed on Wednesday the country is now in its fourth wave of Covid-19. “We are in the fourth wave,” Castex told TF1 news. “The infamous Delta variant is here, it is here, it is the majority (of cases) and what characterises it from those that preceded it is that it is much more contagious,” reported euronews. Castex said 18,181 new cases recorded in the 24 hours to Tuesday represented a 140 per cent jump from the previous week and claimed 96 per cent of these new infections were in unvaccinated people, reported euronews.

4,04,831
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

19,11,48,056
Total no. of cases worldwide

41,09,303
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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