GENEVA – The World Health Company’s top emergency professional said on Friday it would be “extremely speculative” for the WHO to say the coronavirus did not emerge in China, where it was initially identified in a food market in December last year.
China is pushing a narrative by means of state media that the virus existed abroad prior to it was found in the central city of Wuhan, pointing out the presence of coronavirus on imported frozen food product packaging and scientific papers declaring it had actually been flowing in Europe in 2015.
“I think it’s extremely speculative for us to state that the illness did not emerge in China,” Mike Ryan said at a virtual briefing in Geneva after being asked if COVID-19 could have first emerged outside China.
“It is clear from a public health viewpoint that you start your investigations where the human cases first emerged,” he added, saying that proof may then result in other places.
He repeated that the WHO meant to send out researchers to the Wuhan food market to probe the virus origins even more.
The WHO has been accused by the Trump administration of being “China-centric”, allegations it has repeatedly rejected. — Reuters
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