BANGKOK – WHO convened an international group of experts to undertake a series of studies on the origins of the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic. The experts constituting the team are independent scientists. One expert member of this group was recently misquoted as suggesting that the origin of the virus was Thailand. There is no current evidence to suggest this. The article with the misquote has since been corrected.
The team recently concluded its mission to China, and is working on its report. The report will summarize the findings from that mission, including from discussions with Chinese scientists. The broad strokes of the findings have been communicated at press conferences in recent weeks. The report will outline the remaining gaps in knowledge and outline next steps, including further studies that will need to be conducted in China and elsewhere.
The report will not provide a conclusion on the virus origins, as much more work remains to be done to reach such a conclusion. Given past experiences with these types of studies, the search for the origin of the virus may take months or even longer. (WHO & NNT World)
