WHO sets up new expert committee to study origins of COVID-19 further
In July, a WHO team which visited China, had proposed a second phase of studies into the coronavirus origins in China, which included laboratories’ audits and Wuhan markets. However, Beijing had rejected WHO's proposal.
FollowIn the search of the Covid-19 origins, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the next step will be the setting up of a new advisory group that will develop a global framework to study pathogens with pandemic potential.
The International Scientific Advisory Group for Origins of Novel Pathogens, or SAGO, is a new advisory group for WHO, which will be responsible for advising WHO on the development of a global framework to systematically study the emergence of future emerging pathogens with pandemic potential. For SARS-CoV-2, it will support the rapid undertaking of recommended studies outlined in the March 2021 report, the WHO said in a statement on Thursday.
In July, a WHO team which visited China, had proposed a second phase of studies into the coronavirus origins in China, which included laboratories’ audits and Wuhan markets. However, Beijing had rejected WHO's proposal.
In a statement issued on Thursday, WHO called for all governments to depoliticize the situation.
To move forward, WHO calls for all governments to depoliticize the situation and cooperate to accelerate the origins studies, and importantly to work together to develop a common framework for future emerging pathogens of pandemic potential, the statement read.
The WHO hoped that all countries, including China, would collaborate and put in place the conditions for more missions to be sent to Wuhan to appropriately probe the "lab hypothesis."
Covid-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, by the WHO. So far, over 205 million people have been infected with coronavirus worldwide, and more than 4.3 million died, according to the US-based Johns Hopkins University.
The first WHO fact-finding mission to China's Wuhan, where the primary Covid-19 outbreak was reported in late 2019, released its report in March. A WHO-led team of scientists struggled to urge a transparent picture of what research China was conducting beforehand, faced constraints during its visit, and had little power to conduct thorough and impartial research.
(With inputs from agency)
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