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Scientists call for new probe into COVID-19 origins - with or without China

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Reuters

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2020/ap/12/16/child.jpg"/><figcaption>A child and woman, wearing masks to protect from the coronavirus, look at a giant globe in Wuhan on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020. <em>Ng Han Guan, AP/file</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>SHANGHAI - A joint China-World Health Organization (WHO) study into COVID-19 has provided no credible answers about how the pandemic began, and more rigorous investigations are required - with or without Beijing&#x27;s involvement, a group of international scientists and researchers said on Wednesday.</p><p>The joint study, released last week, said the likeliest transmission route for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, involved bats and other wildlife in China and southeast Asia. It all but ruled out the possibility it had leaked from a laboratory.</p><p>In an open letter, 24 scientists and researchers from Europe, the United States, Australia and Japan said the study was tainted by politics.</p><p><strong> FROM OUR ARCHIVES</strong>: </p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1638000" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>&quot;Their starting point was, let&#x27;s have as much compromise as is required to get some minimal cooperation from China,&quot; said Jamie Metzl, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, who drafted the letter.</p><p>The letter said the study&#x27;s conclusions were based on unpublished Chinese research, while critical records and biological samples &quot;remain inaccessible&quot;.</p><p>WHO Director General Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus said last week China had withheld data.</p><p>Liang Wannian, China&#x27;s senior COVID-19 expert, denied this and appeared to rule out any further joint investigations in China, saying the focus should shift to other countries.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/02/10/21/covid-origins-still-a-mystery-as-who-china-probe-ends">COVID origins still a mystery as WHO-China probe ends</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/02/22/21/i-was-the-australian-doctor-on-the-whos-covid-19-mission-to-china-heres-what-we-found-about-the-origins-of-the-coronavirus">I was the Australian doctor on the WHO&#x27;s COVID-19 mission to China. Here&#x27;s what we found about the origins of the coronavirus</a></li></ul><p>Metzl said the world might have to &quot;revert to Plan B&quot; and conduct an investigation &quot;in the most systematic way possible&quot; without China&#x27;s involvement.</p><p>China has rejected allegations that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a research laboratory in Wuhan, the city where COVID-19 was first identified.</p><p>The joint China-WHO study said the lab leak was &quot;extremely unlikely&quot;, saying there was &quot;no record&quot; that any laboratory had kept SARS-CoV-2-related viruses. Tedros said more research was required to &quot;reach more robust conclusions&quot;.</p><p>Metzl said China should disclose information that would allow the lab hypothesis to be disproved.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/12/01/20/mystery-still-shrouds-covid-19-origin">Mystery still shrouds COVID-19 origin</a></li></ul><p>&quot;China has databases of what viruses were being held... there are lab notes of the work that was being done,&quot; he said, &quot;There are all kinds of scientists who are actually doing the work and we don&#x27;t have access to any of those resources, or any of those people.&quot; </p><div><strong>(Reporting by David Stanway, Editing by Timothy Heritage)</strong></div>

<p>In an open letter, 24 scientists and researchers from Europe, the United States, Australia and Japan said the study was tainted by politics.<br /> </p>

In an open letter, 24 scientists and researchers from Europe, the United States, Australia and Japan said the study was tainted by politics.