WHO lashes out at critics of Covid probe, insisting investigation is making good progress

The World Health Organisation (WHO) hit out against criticism of its investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, challenging those who know better to come forward.

An investigative team from the WHO is currently in Wuhan, China, where the first cases of the virus were identified in December 2019. They are in the midst of trying to work out how the virus could have made the leap from animals to humans, before going on to spread to nearly every country in the world, killing over two million people and changing everyday life for millions of others.

During a press conference at the WHO’s Geneva headquarters, the UN agency's emergencies director, Michael Ryan condemned those sniping at the mission. He went on to address those who claimed to know more about the origin of the pandemic, calling for them to share their findings and saying: "If you have the answers... please let us know."

Mr Ryan spoke of how many critics had said that they "won't accept the report when it comes out," or that there is "other intelligence available that may show different findings" on how the virus emerged.

In response to this, Mr Ryan asked critics how responsible it was "to say you won't accept a report before it's even written? To say that you have intelligence that has not been provided?”

Mr Ryan was responding to a question which referenced US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who on Monday told US broadcaster NBC News that China was falling "far short of the mark."

Mr Blinken added: "China has to step up and make sure that it is being transparent, that it is providing information and sharing information, that it is giving access to international experts and inspectors."

The US Secretary of State cited China’s failure to do this as “a real problem.”

The WHO investigation got off to a shaky start when members of the team were initially denied entry into China, in a series of events that the People’s Republic called a misunderstanding. The team has now arrived in Wuhan and investigations are ongoing.

WHO investigators are heavily reliant on their Chinese hosts for access to research materials. Circumstances have been made particularly tricky since the Chinese state media are currently in the process of spreading the message that the pandemic may not have actually originated in China.

It seems that Beijing is particularly keen to highlight how quickly has recovered from the pandemic, giving the WHO team a tour of a propaganda exhibition in Wuhan on Saturday.

China has a relatively low death toll compared to other countries at 4,636. The country’s economy even grew by 2.3 per cent last year, in spite of the outbreak.  

Mr Ryan called on people to give the WHO team out in China international support, adding that all infectious disease investigations tend to discover information that then throws up further questions.

"It's a detective story," he said.