(Geneva) The United States welcomed on Friday the investigation launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the origins of the virus in China, where two experts of the organization are expected in the coming hours for an exploratory mission.
Published on 10 July 2020 at 18 h 13
France Media Agency
“We welcome the WHO investigation into the origins of the new coronavirus in China,” US Ambassador to Geneva, Andrew Bremberg, told reporters.
“We consider this scientific investigation as a necessary step to have a complete and transparent understanding of how this virus has spread in the world”, he added, in an unusually positive statement concerning the 'WHO.
The United States, which officially launched the WHO withdrawal procedure on Tuesday, has vilified the organization since the start of the crisis, accusing it of having been slow to react and above all of having been too complacent with China, where the fine virus appeared 2019.
Donald Trump had announced at the end of May “to end the relationship” between his country and the WHO, described as “puppet of China”.
The two WHO experts – an epidemiologist and an animal health specialist – are expected this weekend in Beijing.
They must prepare the ground for a broader mission which will have to determine the origin of the coronavirus responsible for more than 555 00 0 dead since the end of December.
The US ambassador said he hoped the Chinese authorities would offer scientists “full access to data, samples and localities”.
A WHO spokesperson, Margaret Harris, told the press on Friday that “one of the biggest questions is whether the virus has been transmitted to humans by animals, and which animal it is ”.
The vast majority of researchers agree that the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus – at the origin of the pandemic – was probably born in bats, but scientists believe that it is passed through another species before being transmitted to humans.
It is this piece of the puzzle that the international scientific community and the WHO hope to discover in order to better understand what happened, to better target risky practices and avoid a new pandemic.