What about science and impartiality: China's clapback to WHO on Wuhan data
Bloomberg |
Apr 09, 2023
Covid In China: China shared all material that it had gathered on Covid’s origin when it conducted a joint mission with experts organized by the WHO in 2020.
Beijing urged World Health Organization officials not to be used as political tools after fresh accusations that Beijing delayed releasing key early data on Covid-19 considered by some scientists to be instrumental to understanding the virus’s genesis.
Bloomberg |
Apr 09, 2023
Covid In China: China shared all material that it had gathered on Covid’s origin when it conducted a joint mission with experts organized by the WHO in 2020.
Beijing urged World Health Organization officials not to be used as political tools after fresh accusations that Beijing delayed releasing key early data on Covid-19 considered by some scientists to be instrumental to understanding the virus’s genesis.
Covid In China: Security guards wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) amid the Covid-19 pandemic sit at an entrance of a building in Beijing.(AFP)
China shared all material that it had gathered on Covid’s origin when it conducted a joint mission with experts organized by the WHO in 2020 and early 2021 and has not withheld data on any cases, samples or testing results, Shen Hongbing, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a briefing in Beijing on Saturday.
Recent remarks by some WHO officials that dismissed the joint mission’s effort were “a crude offense to the scientists around the world who participated in the initial-origin tracing work,” he said.
“We urge certain people at the WHO to come back to the position of science and impartiality, instead of becoming a tool for politicizing Covid’s origin by some country, whether voluntarily or forced,” Shen said.
Shen’s remarks come days after the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead Maria D. Van Kerkhove said in an editorial that the sharing of some viral samples from a food market in Wuhan three years after they were collected amounted to a lack of data disclosure that was “inexcusable.” She said the WHO-China joint mission early in the pandemic was heavily criticized for the lack of access to raw data on early cases in China, which still hasn’t been granted.
At the heart of the spat among officials between the WHO and China is a new set of data on specimens collected three years ago at the market in Wuhan that Chinese researchers uploaded to the global genomic database GISAID earlier this year. The data was uploaded to aid peer review of a study conducted by the China CDC but it was released to the public by GISAID staff “by mistake,” China CDC director Shen said at the briefing.
A group of international scientists found the data last month and their independent analysis showed evidence of the virus along with genetic material from several animals, including raccoon dogs, making it the strongest information yet backing the theory that it could have spilled over from animals to humans at the market.
Chinese researchers, led by the China CDC’s former director George Gao Fu, however, argued in their study of the specimens that the samples were insufficient to prove the Covid outbreak started there as a result of the virus jumping from animals to humans.
Chinese officials at Saturday’s briefing reiterated that conclusion, saying there isn’t enough evidence to prove the virus originated from raccoon dogs and spilled over to humans at the Wuhan market.
China shared all material that it had gathered on Covid’s origin when it conducted a joint mission with experts organized by the WHO in 2020 and early 2021 and has not withheld data on any cases, samples or testing results, Shen Hongbing, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a briefing in Beijing on Saturday.
Recent remarks by some WHO officials that dismissed the joint mission’s effort were “a crude offense to the scientists around the world who participated in the initial-origin tracing work,” he said.
“We urge certain people at the WHO to come back to the position of science and impartiality, instead of becoming a tool for politicizing Covid’s origin by some country, whether voluntarily or forced,” Shen said.
Shen’s remarks come days after the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead Maria D. Van Kerkhove said in an editorial that the sharing of some viral samples from a food market in Wuhan three years after they were collected amounted to a lack of data disclosure that was “inexcusable.” She said the WHO-China joint mission early in the pandemic was heavily criticized for the lack of access to raw data on early cases in China, which still hasn’t been granted.
At the heart of the spat among officials between the WHO and China is a new set of data on specimens collected three years ago at the market in Wuhan that Chinese researchers uploaded to the global genomic database GISAID earlier this year. The data was uploaded to aid peer review of a study conducted by the China CDC but it was released to the public by GISAID staff “by mistake,” China CDC director Shen said at the briefing.
A group of international scientists found the data last month and their independent analysis showed evidence of the virus along with genetic material from several animals, including raccoon dogs, making it the strongest information yet backing the theory that it could have spilled over from animals to humans at the market.
Chinese researchers, led by the China CDC’s former director George Gao Fu, however, argued in their study of the specimens that the samples were insufficient to prove the Covid outbreak started there as a result of the virus jumping from animals to humans.
Chinese officials at Saturday’s briefing reiterated that conclusion, saying there isn’t enough evidence to prove the virus originated from raccoon dogs and spilled over to humans at the Wuhan market.
By JOE McDONALD
yesterday
Shen Hongbing, the director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks at a press conference on the origins of COVID-19 at the State Council Information Office in Beijing, Saturday, April 8, 2023.
Shen Hongbing, the director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks at a press conference on the origins of COVID-19 at the State Council Information Office in Beijing, Saturday, April 8, 2023.
(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese health officials defended their search for the source of the COVID-19 virus and lashed out Saturday at the World Health Organization after its leader said Beijing should have shared genetic information earlier.
The WHO comments were “offensive and disrespectful,” said the director of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shen Hongbing. He accused the WHO of “attempting to smear China” and said it should avoid helping others “politicize COVID-19.”
The global health body’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said March 17 that newly disclosed genetic material gathered in Wuhan in central China, where the first cases were detected in late 2019, “should have been shared three years ago.”
“As a responsible country and as scientists, we have always actively shared research results with scientists from around the world,” Shen said at a news conference.
The origins of COVID-19 are still debated and the focus of bitter political dispute.
Many scientists believe it jumped from animals to humans at a market in Wuhan, but the city also is home to laboratories including China’s top facility for collecting viruses. That prompted suggestions COVID-19 might have leaked from one.
The ruling Communist Party has tried to deflect criticism of its handling of the outbreak by spreading uncertainty about its origins.
Officials have repeated anti-U.S. conspiracy theories that the virus was created by Washington and smuggled into China. The government also says the virus might have entered China on mail or food shipments, though scientists abroad see no evidence to support that.
Chinese officials suppressed information about the Wuhan outbreak in 2019 and punished a doctor who warned others about the new disease. The ruling party reversed course in early 2020 and shut down access to major cities and most international travel to contain the disease.
The genetic material cited by the WHO’s Tedros was uploaded recently to a global database but collected in 2020 at a Wuhan market where wildlife was sold.
The samples show DNA from raccoon dogs mingled with the virus, scientists say. They say that adds evidence to the hypothesis COVID-19 came from animals, not a lab, but doesn’t resolve the question of where it started. They say the virus also might have spread to raccoon dogs from humans.
The information was removed by Chinese officials from the database after foreign scientists asked the CDC about it, but it had been copied by a French expert and shared with researchers outside China.
A CDC researcher, Zhou Lei, who worked in Wuhan, said Chinese scientists “shared all the data we had” and “adhered to principles of openness, objectivity and transparency.”
Shen said scientists investigated the possibility of a laboratory leak and “fully shared our research and data without any concealment or reservation.”
Shen said the source of COVID-19 had yet to be found, but he noted it took years to identify the AIDS virus and its origin still is unclear.
“Some forces and figures who instigate and participate in politicizing the traceability issue and attempting to smear China should not assume that the vision of the scientific community around the world will be blinded by their clumsy manipulation,” Shen said.
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese health officials defended their search for the source of the COVID-19 virus and lashed out Saturday at the World Health Organization after its leader said Beijing should have shared genetic information earlier.
The WHO comments were “offensive and disrespectful,” said the director of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shen Hongbing. He accused the WHO of “attempting to smear China” and said it should avoid helping others “politicize COVID-19.”
The global health body’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said March 17 that newly disclosed genetic material gathered in Wuhan in central China, where the first cases were detected in late 2019, “should have been shared three years ago.”
“As a responsible country and as scientists, we have always actively shared research results with scientists from around the world,” Shen said at a news conference.
The origins of COVID-19 are still debated and the focus of bitter political dispute.
Many scientists believe it jumped from animals to humans at a market in Wuhan, but the city also is home to laboratories including China’s top facility for collecting viruses. That prompted suggestions COVID-19 might have leaked from one.
The ruling Communist Party has tried to deflect criticism of its handling of the outbreak by spreading uncertainty about its origins.
Officials have repeated anti-U.S. conspiracy theories that the virus was created by Washington and smuggled into China. The government also says the virus might have entered China on mail or food shipments, though scientists abroad see no evidence to support that.
Chinese officials suppressed information about the Wuhan outbreak in 2019 and punished a doctor who warned others about the new disease. The ruling party reversed course in early 2020 and shut down access to major cities and most international travel to contain the disease.
The genetic material cited by the WHO’s Tedros was uploaded recently to a global database but collected in 2020 at a Wuhan market where wildlife was sold.
The samples show DNA from raccoon dogs mingled with the virus, scientists say. They say that adds evidence to the hypothesis COVID-19 came from animals, not a lab, but doesn’t resolve the question of where it started. They say the virus also might have spread to raccoon dogs from humans.
The information was removed by Chinese officials from the database after foreign scientists asked the CDC about it, but it had been copied by a French expert and shared with researchers outside China.
A CDC researcher, Zhou Lei, who worked in Wuhan, said Chinese scientists “shared all the data we had” and “adhered to principles of openness, objectivity and transparency.”
Shen said scientists investigated the possibility of a laboratory leak and “fully shared our research and data without any concealment or reservation.”
Shen said the source of COVID-19 had yet to be found, but he noted it took years to identify the AIDS virus and its origin still is unclear.
“Some forces and figures who instigate and participate in politicizing the traceability issue and attempting to smear China should not assume that the vision of the scientific community around the world will be blinded by their clumsy manipulation,” Shen said.
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