EDITORIAL | The Wuhan Chapter: Did COVID-19 really originate in China?

FROM THE EDITOR's DESK:

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a ‘Public Health Emergency of International Concern’ in January 2020 and a pandemic in March 2020.

Recently, a team of scientists from the WHO investigated the origins of the virus in Wuhan, China.

But with the Chinese government being known for subverting information, did the investigation turn out to be fruitful at all?

As per official reports following the team’s two-week investigation, it is extremely unlikely that COVID-19 started in a lab.

The report also ruled out the theory that COVID-19 ‘escaped’ from a laboratory in Wuhan, as the investigators stated that the virus most likely originated from bats and passed on to humans.

However, these findings still leave many questions unanswered as the team stated they could not determine how and when the virus began spreading to humans.

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According to multiple news reports, the findings have led the team to question whether the virus even originated in China.

Although, the team still suspects that the virus originated at the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market in Wuhan; more research would be required to find out whether the virus passed on to humans through the animals there or imported from other parts of Asia.

But the inconclusiveness of the investigation has encouraged the Chinese government to point the finger somewhere else, as we all know that China’s state media has long stated that COVID-19 did not originate in the country.

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Finally, to put a nail in the coffin, governments across the world should heed the lessons of a pandemic which have decimated not the world economic engine but crippled health systems across.