"WHO 사무총장, 중국에 코로나19 기원 조사 협조 촉구
The head of the WHO has admitted that investigations into the origin of COVID-19 in China have been hampered by the lack of raw data during the first days of the outbreak.
He said Beijing should be more transparent.
Lee Seung-jae reports.
More data and more transparency.
That's what the head of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is urging China to provide more of,... saying the probe into the origin of the pandemic is being hampered by the lack of raw data from the first days of the spread.
"We are asking actually China to be transparent, open, and cooperate, especially on the information raw data that we asked for in the early days of the pandemic. And we will be discussing with member states on the phase two and hope members states will help in guiding to address the challenges that I have already underlined among other things."
Earlier this year, a WHO-led team spent four weeks in and around Wuhan,... along with Chinese researchers.
In a joint report published in March,... they said the virus was probably transmitted from bats to humans through another animal,... adding the "introduction through a laboratory incident was considered to be an extremely unlikely pathway".
However,... during a press briefing Thursday, the WHO chief acknowledged it was premature to rule out a potential link to a lab leak.
"There was a premature push to, you know, especially reduce one of the options, like the lab theory. As you know, I was a lab technician myself, an immunologist and I have worked in the lab, and lab accidents happen, it's common, I have seen it happening and I had, myself, had errors, so it can happen."
He will brief the WHO's 194 member states on Friday,... regarding a proposed second phase of study into the origin of COVID-19.
During the 18 months or so since the initial outbreak,... over 188 million people have been infected worldwide,... and over four million deaths.
With the highly transmissible Delta variant now in at least 111 countries, territories and areas,... experts say there's no telling how much longer the pandemic will last.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.
#WHO #COVID19 #China
📣 Arirang News(Facebook) : [ Ссылка ]
📣 Arirang News(Twitter) : [ Ссылка ]
📣 News Center(YouTube) : [ Ссылка ]
2021-07-16 07:00 (KST)
