US urges transparent WHO inquiry into COVID-origins

(FASTNEWS | UNITED STATES) – The US health secretary has urged the World Health Organization to ensure the next phase of investigation into Covid-19’s origins is “transparent”.

Speaking to a ministerial-level WHO meeting, Xavier Becerra said international experts should be allowed to evaluate the source of coronavirus.

US media reports suggest growing evidence the virus could have emerged from a laboratory in China.

Covid-19 was first detected in 2019 in Wuhan, in central Hubei province.

Since then, more than 167 million cases and 3.4 million deaths have been reported worldwide.

In March this year, the WHO issued a report written jointly with Chinese scientists on the origins of Covid-19, saying the chances of it having started in a lab were “extremely unlikely”. The WHO acknowledged further study was needed.

But questions have persisted and reports attributed to US intelligence sources say three members of the Wuhan Institute of Virology were admitted to hospital in November 2019, several weeks before China acknowledged the first case of the new disease in the community.