COVID-19: WHO completes groundwork in China, carves way for epidemiological studies

The World Health Organization’s mission for laying the groundwork for COVID-19 origin probe in China has concluded, the organisations chief said on August 3. Speaking at a virtual press briefing, the agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added that as a result, the team has now drafted “terms of reference” for a larger, international team to investigate further. China has been under constant pressures to open up its borders for international probe after the US experts alleged that the virus was artificially created by the communist nation.

'Groundwork for longterm studies'

Meanwhile, Ghebreyesus explained that the now-concluded mission was conducted by an ‘advance team’ which was responsible for laying the groundwork to aid upcoming joint efforts to identify virus origins.  He added that following this, “epidemiological studies would begin in Wuhan to identify potential causes of the coronavirus pandemic. “Evidence and hypotheses generated through this work will lay the ground for further, longer-term studies," he concluded.

In the same briefing, the 55-year-old biologist also warned that there might never be a “silver bullet” for the novel coronavirus despite several vaccine trials. Ghebreyesus said that the Emergency Committee on COVID-19 met and reviewed the ongoing pandemic. “A number of vaccines are now in phase three clinical trials and we all hope to have a number of effective vaccines that can help prevent people from infection. However, there’s no silver bullet at the moment and there might never be,” said the top WHO official.

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Ghebreyesus called the meeting a “sobering moment” as the committee had advised that the outbreak constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. On January 30, there were fewer than 100 cases and no reported deaths outside China. However, in three months, three million COVID-19 cases and over 200,000 had been reported to WHO.

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