‘We continue to call on China to share data and access so we can understand the origins of COVID-19.’ the UN health agency says.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Dec. 30 restated its request for China to share data and access to help determine the origins of COVID-19, as the organization marked five years since the infection first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
“This is a moral and scientific imperative,” the organization said in a
statement. “Without transparency, sharing, and cooperation among countries, the world cannot adequately prevent and prepare for future epidemics and pandemics.“
Until now, the world remained in the dark about how the pandemic erupted in China, where the ruling Communist Party held tight control over the information about the virus and punished
doctors,
journalists, and others who attempted to relay unfiltered information relating to the pandemic.
Earlier this month, a Republican-led
oversight subcommittee released findings from a two-year investigation, highlighting that the Chinese regime, along with U.S. government agencies and members of the international scientific community, sought to cover up facts about the pandemic’s origins.
Even the identity of “patient zero” is still shrouded in mystery. While the health authorities in Wuhan said the
first case was detected on Dec. 8, 2019, media reports indicated that the earliest documented patient—a man in his 70s—
fell ill several days earlier, on Dec. 1.
A trove of
leaked documents obtained by The Epoch Times has raised further questions about the official timeline, showing that hospitals in Wuhan began treating patients with COVID-like symptoms as early as September 2019.
In its reflective statement, the WHO recalled that
on Dec. 31, 2019, its Country Office in China noted a media announcement from the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission about “viral pneumonia” cases in Wuhan.
In response, China’s foreign ministry said it has “shared the most data and research results” among the international community.
Mao Ning, spokesperson at the foreign ministry,
told reporters at a briefing on Dec. 31 that China supported and participated in scientific efforts to find out how the virus started and “firmly opposes any form of political manipulation.”
‘Hold China Accountable’
The regime has dismissed
calls from the UN health body for transparency concerning the global public health crisis. It wasn’t until January 2021 that Beijing allowed a WHO-led team of experts to conduct a four-week study in and around Wuhan, where they sought to exchange information with Chinese counterparts to investigate the origins of the pandemic.
That
visit was restricted to tightly controlled engagements, with team members barred from interacting with the local community, a move justified by the Chinese authorities citing COVID-19 restrictions. During that investigation tour, the team sought access to patient data on 174 infection cases identified by the Chinese authorities in December 2019, and were given only a summary,
according to Australian microbiologist Dominic Dwyer, who is a member of the team.
Following the visit, the WHO released a
report saying that the disease most likely jumped to humans from bats, labeling the lab leak theory as “extremely unlikely.” This conclusion was not definitive, with Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noting that further studies and data were
needed.
The Chinese regime said that no additional visits were needed and sought to redirect investigations into early cases to other countries. Since early 2020, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has also engaged in a
disinformation campaign, with its foreign ministry and embassies in the United States promoting unfounded conspiracy theories that the outbreak originated on U.S. soil. This campaign has intensified amid
increasing scrutiny over how China’s initial
cover-up affected the global response to the pandemic.
A recent
report by a nonpartisan commission convened by the Heritage Foundation estimated that as of December 2023, the economic cost of the pandemic in the United States alone has exceeded $18 trillion, accounting for about 13 percent of the country’s net wealth for that year.
“It’s critical the United States take the leadership role in holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable for one of the most catastrophic cover-ups in human history,” Derrick Morgan, executive vice president of the Washington-based think tank, stated at a July 8
event in Washington while presenting the 64-page paper.
“It has been nearly five years since the outbreak in Wuhan, China, and nothing has been done to hold China accountable. They believe they’ve gotten away with it,” Morgan said. “But inaction incentivizes the CCP to persist in secretive, aggressive, and dangerous behavior.”
John Ratcliffe, chairman of the commission and the incoming director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, said the best way for the world to prevent the next pandemic is to hold Beijing accountable.
“We’ve all survived … the worst pandemic of our lifetime. But it would be a mistake for all of us to assume that it will be the last one,” Ratcliffe said at the event.
