Scientists Investigating COVID-19 Origins "Frustrated by Chinese Government's Non-Cooperation" [Reading Science]

International Academic Journal Nature Intellectual

Security guards in front of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China visited by the WHO investigation team
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Scientists including those from the World Health Organization (WHO) are intensifying research to identify the origin of the COVID-19 virus, but are facing difficulties due to the Chinese government's lack of cooperation.

According to the international academic journal Nature on the 22nd, the WHO scientific advisory group is investigating the origin of the COVID-19 virus but is in a difficult position as they cannot access specific information. WHO began this research over a year ago but has yet to complete it. Nature reported, "The world is waiting for answers to prevent future epidemics, but scientists are feeling frustrated after a long wait."

Wuhan Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. Photo by Yonhap News

The delay in research is due to the Chinese government's non-cooperation. Scientists from the UK, the US, Australia, and other countries conducting research in China blame the Chinese government for not providing information related to the origin of COVID-19. The focus is on the analysis results of samples collected from animals and farmers at farms that supplied goods to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, where the virus was heavily detected in January 2020, the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is presumed that the COVID-19 virus originated from wild animals such as bats and was transmitted to humans. The initial WHO investigation report released in March last year vaguely described the wildlife trade at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. The report stated, "No illegal wildlife trade was found at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, and there is no record of live mammals being sold around 2019," but included photos from 2014 showing live animals such as raccoon dogs being sold at the Huanan market.

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However, immediately after the WHO report was released, Chinese conservation biologists published a shocking report in Scientific Reports. They revealed that more than 47,000 animals, including 31 protected species, were sold in the Wuhan area, including the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, until November 2019. Slaughtering was routinely conducted at the market, and a significant number of these animals were species known to transmit infectious diseases.

In response, WHO scientists requested China to conduct COVID-19 antibody tests on blood samples from Wuhan residents collected between September and December 2019 and to investigate wildlife farms. However, in August last year, the Chinese government officially notified WHO that it could not cooperate in researching the hypothesis that COVID-19 originated in Wuhan.

Edward Holmes, a biology professor at the University of Sydney, Australia, lamented, "We are trying to understand how this incident happened, but we are crippled because we cannot access the data." In this regard, the Chinese government issued guidelines to universities and research institutes in March 2020, mandating prior review before distributing research related to COVID-19. Typically, research to determine the origin of an epidemic takes years to conclude. However, scientists have yet to find a solution to the disruption caused by political barriers in this case. Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO infectious disease expert, expressed concern, saying, "If we do not obtain the information we need, there will be gaps in the report, and people will try to fill those gaps with speculation."

Meanwhile, in February, a multinational research team from Arizona University, Korea University, and other institutions in the US, UK, Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia published research results suggesting that the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan is likely the origin of COVID-19. The evidence included the concentration of COVID-19 cases near the Huanan Seafood Market in December 2019, when the virus first appeared, and the sale of mammals such as raccoon dogs at the market. The research team inferred that a novel coronavirus was transmitted from live mammals sold at the Huanan Seafood Market in December 2019 to merchants and customers, leading to the pandemic. However, this was only an inference without concrete evidence. The US has claimed that the COVID-19 virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology after the 2019 pandemic. In contrast, China has rebutted, asserting that US military personnel attending the World Military Games held in Wuhan in October 2019 spread the virus.