WHO experts ask Beijing for “more data”

The head of the WHO delegation who recently visited China to investigate the origins of the pandemic expressed frustration on Saturday over the lack of access to raw data during this mission, saying more was needed to detect possible early cases of Covid-19.

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«We want more data. We requested more data“, Said in an interview with AFP Peter Ben Embarek, who went with his team for a month to Wuhan, where the coronavirus responsible for the epidemic was discovered in December 2019.”There is a set of frustrations but also realistic expectations of what is doable within a given timeframe.“, He added, before hoping that the requested data would be provided, allowing to go further.

These experts from the World Health Organization completed their mission earlier this week without reaching any definitive conclusions. They believe that Covid-19, which has already claimed an estimated 2.4 million lives worldwide, has its origin in bats and may have been transmitted to humans via another mammal. However, these experts do not know where and when the pandemic really started, even if no major outbreak was reported in Wuhan or elsewhere before December 2019.