He urged everyone, including countries, to create space for discussions on the issue.
Ryan noted the current pandemic “has stopped our whole world” and said the expert group “may be our last chance to understand the origins of this virus in a.collective and mutually responsible way”. He said that while SARS-CoV-2 is the latest virus to spark a pandemic, “it will not be the last”. Tedros said SAGO will advise WHO on developing a global framework to guide studies into “origins of emerging and re-emerging pathogens with epidemic and pandemic potential, including SARS-CoV-2”. He added, “China has always maintained that tracing of virus origins is a serious and complex scientific issue and that research should be conducted by scientists in cooperation.” “China will continue to support and participate in international Coronavirus origins -tracing, yet opposes any form of political manipulation on the issue,” Zhao told a news briefing in Beijing. The result of the previous study on the matter should be respected, he added. The Coronavirus first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, triggering the worst pandemic in a century.Īsked about the new probe, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said it should be conducted in the “spirit of science” and not used as a political tool.
Responding to WHO’s announcement, China warned against any “political manipulation” of the renewed probe into the origins of Covid-19 but said it would support the investigation.
Raman Gangakhedkar, the Dr CG Pandit National Chair at the Indian Council of Medical Research in India, and Yungui Yang of the Beijing Institute of Genomics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, are among the 26 members of SAGO. The Indian side, he said, was gathering details of what the new move by WHO would entail. “Let me just reiterate what we have stated till now – we have our interest in further studies and data on this issue of the origin and the need for understanding and cooperation by all concerned,” he said, without naming China. External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi reiterated this position when he was asked about the new expert group at a regular news briefing on Thursday.
India has consistently backed all moves by WHO to establish the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, and called on all stakeholders, including China, to cooperate with such efforts. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the launch of the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) at a news briefing on Wednesday, and Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO’s health emergencies programme, said this represented the “last chance” to determine the origins of SARS-CoV-2. India on Thursday backed the World Health Organization (WHO)’s decision to create an expert group to examine the origins of new pathogens, including the Coronavirus that causes Covid-19, and said all countries should cooperate with the probe.
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