New Chinese data on genetic samples taken in the Wuhan market in China in 2020 don’t provide a definitive answer as to how the COVID-19 pandemic began, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday, following media reports that the data link the pandemic’s origins to raccoon dogs at the market.
The data in question was uploaded to the international virus database GISAID by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention late last week, according to the Atlantic, but hastily removed following questions from international scientists. However, an analysis of the data by a team of international researchers, first reported by the Atlantic on Thursday, found that samples containing coronavirus also contained genetic material from animals, including raccoon dogs. This led to suggestions that raccoon dogs being sold at the market could have been carrying the virus.
The WHO, which only became aware of the data over the weekend, was bombarded with questions about the importance of the new findings at a press conference on Friday.
Their response? We need more data to have any definitive answer on the pandemic’s origins. What the data do show is molecular evidence that animals were sold at the market and some animals there were susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, said the WHO’s COVID technical lead, Maria Van Kerkhove. “Unfortunately this doesn’t give us the answer of how the pandemic began, but it does give us more clues,” she said. Instead, she called for more studies.
The latest twist in the drip of information around the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the difficulties that the WHO has faced in accessing data, particularly from China.
“These data could have — and should have — been shared three years ago,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “We continue to call on China to be transparent in sharing data, and to conduct the necessary investigations and share the results.”
