WHO Says U.S. Origin of the COVID-9 Wuhan Institute.
AFP reported on the 4th (local time) that the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was a "speculative claim" to the U.S. claim that the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) originated at Wuhan Research Institute in China.
"We have not yet received any evidence from the U.S. government about the origin of COVID-19," WHO Deputy Director General Michael Ryan said in a video press briefing at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. "This is why the U.S. claim is based on speculation from the WHO's perspective."
"The WHO is willing to receive any evidence of the origin of COVID-19," Ryan said. "This is very important as information about public health in the future."
"If there is data and evidence about the origin of the virus, whether or not it is shared depends on the decision of the U.S. government," he added.
Maria Pankerkhover, head of the WHO's new disease team, also explained, "We have 15,000 genetic sequences for the coronavirus, but from what we have confirmed, they all came from nature."
Accordingly, the WHO is focusing on finding routes and intermediate hosts that have spread from animals to humans to prevent such incidents from happening again, according to AFP.
U.S. President Donald Trump criticized China's initial response on the 30th of last month and claimed that there was evidence that the virus had occurred at the Wuhan Institute.
