WHO asks China to share requested data to probe the origins of Covid-19

The head of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on China to share the requested data concerning Covid-19 in a bid to understand the origins of the virus.

“We continue to call on China to share the data and conduct the studies that we have requested, to better understand the origins of this virus,” the WHO chief told a media briefing, as quoted in a statement on the organization’s website. “As I have said many times, all hypotheses remain on the table,” he added.

Three years after Covid-19 emergence in China's Wuhan, exactly how SARS-CoV-2 first emerged as a respiratory pathogen capable of sustained human-to-human transmission has been the active debate.

WHO asks for China's data on Covid-19

As per experts, there are two dominant theories on the origins of the virus that have been put forward. The first theory has the result of a natural zoonotic spillover of  SARS-CoV-2 and the second theory is about the virus infecting humans as a consequence of a research-related incident. While addressing the press statement, the WHO chief said that he is “hopeful” that the COVID-19 pandemic will no longer be considered a global health emergency by the next year. 

“We’re hopeful that at some point next year, we will be able to say that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency,”  said the WHO chief in the media briefing statement on the website.

While talking about Covid - 19 emergences, the WHO chief recalled that one year ago, the Omicron variant “had just been identified and was starting to take off,” reported ANI. Further, he added that at the time of Covid - 19, fifty thousand people were dying each week and last week less than 10,000 people had lost their lives globally. However the WHO chief said, "That’s still 10,000 too many – and there is still a lot that all countries can do to save lives – but we have come a long way." 

The criteria for declaring an end to the emergency would be discussed in the next meeting of the Emergency Committee in January 2023 stated Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO head. He stated that the virus would not go away however all the countries would need to learn to manage it with other respiratory illnesses such as influenza and RSV, both of which have been circulating intensely in many countries.