JAKARTA - The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that investigations into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic in China were hampered by a lack of raw data in the first days of the outbreak, urging Beijing to be more transparent.
A WHO-led team spent four weeks in and around the central city of Wuhan with Chinese researchers, saying in a joint report in March that the virus may have passed from bats to humans via other animals.
The team called the spread of the virus due to a leak from the laboratory as highly unlikely. However, a number of countries including the United States and many scientists are dissatisfied with these results.
"We call on China to be transparent and open and cooperate," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference Thursday, July 15.
"We owe it to the millions who suffered and the millions who died to know what happened," Ghebreyesus continued.
China itself has repeatedly said the theory that the virus originated from a laboratory leak in Wuhan is absurd, and has always insisted that politicizing this issue will hinder investigations.
At a regular press briefing on Friday, when asked about Tedros' comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said some data could not be copied or left China because it involved personal information.
Tedros himself will brief the WHO's 194 member states on Friday about the proposed second phase of the study, said WHO's top emergency expert Mike Ryan.
"We look forward to working closely with our Chinese counterparts in that process. The director general will outline the measures for member states at tomorrow's meeting, on Friday," he told reporters.
Meanwhile, German Health Minister Jens Spahn, who held talks with Tedros on Thursday, urged China to allow investigations into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic to continue, saying more information was needed.
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