Coronavirus: Australia joins push for continued WHO probe on Covid origins

Australia, the US, Japan and Europe have called on China to allow the WHO to continue its scientific investigation into the origins of Covid-19.

The P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan. Picture: AFP.

Australia, the US, Japan and Europe have called on China to allow the WHO to continue its scientific investigation into the origins of the worst pandemic in a hundred years.

Australia’s chief scientist Cathy Foley joined her counterparts from the US, Japan and Europe to ask China to let the World Health Organisation get on with the second phase of the study of the origins of Covid-19, which has killed more than four million people.

“As science advisers and officials, we unite to call on the Chinese government to reconsider its decision to not engage in the World Health Organisation’s proposal for the next phase of the Covid-19 origins study,” the team of experts said in a joint statement on Thursday.

“China’s full participation in this scientific examination is a matter of critical importance to the world.”

The co-ordination of America and its allies came as US Secretary of State Antony Bliken met with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to discuss the future of the investigation.

Beijing has signalled it will not co-operate if the proposed itinerary included further investigation of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

China has in recent weeks boosted its disinformation campaign over the origins of the virus, with the party-controlled tabloid the Global Times creating and promoting an online survey demanding the WHO-led team investigate the US’s Fort Detrick lab.

The Global Times reported on Thursday that almost 20 million Chinese internet users had signed the petition. It also claimed the US had launched cyberattacks on the online servers hosting the petition.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Picture: AFP

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian — who, in March last year, first pushed the conspiracy theory that the coronavirus originated in the US — said the Global Times deserved “a huge thumbs-up” for its work.

Dr Tedros enraged Chinese President Xi Jinping’s administration a fortnight ago when he said further study of the lab was required to build on work done by a WHO-led team earlier in the year.

“I was a lab technician myself. I’m an immunologist... lab accidents happen,” said Dr Tedros.

Zeng Yixin, vice-minister of the National Health Commission, said last week he was shocked by the “lack of respect for common sense and the arrogance” of the WHO’s proposal.

“We won’t follow such a plan,” said Mr Zeng in Beijing’s most authoritative response.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki later accused China of “stonewalling” the WHO-led investigation.

“Their position is irresponsible and, frankly, dangerous,” she said.

The proposed itinerary of the investigation — informed by scientists from around the world — is mostly focused on further research into animal markets and farmers in China. Scientists involved in the intinitial WHO investigation thought the coronavirus most likely emerged from wild animals or bats.

The new joint statement included Dr Foley, US President Joe Biden’s science adviser Eric Lander, the head of Japan’s Council for Science, Technology and Innovation, Ueyama Takahiro, and Mariya Gabriel, the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.

They asked the Chinese government to help the international community better prepare for future biological catastrophes.

“As a nation that values science, China has a shared responsibility to help learn from crises and to uphold long held and agreed norms around scientific integrity — including being fully transparent about public health emergencies,” the team of scientists said.

“Scientific progress depends on working together openly, collaboratively, and respectfully in the pursuit of facts and understanding,” they said.

“These same norms should apply wherever outbreaks emerge in the future, and we expect these same standards to be applied wherever they occur, including our own countries.”