In February 2021, a team of specialists from various disciplines, led by the WHO and accompanied by Chinese colleagues, spent two weeks in the Asian country to unravel the start of the epidemic in Wuhan.
In a joint report, the researchers left open four hypotheses about the origin of the pandemic, but stated that many more studies were needed to reach a definitive conclusion.
The study then leaned towards the hypothesis of transmission to humans by an animal, possibly in a market in this Chinese city.
Contrary to this hypothesis, the virus that causes covid-19 has been found in an increasing number of animals, but genetic and epidemiological studies suggest that these infections were introduced by humans, rather than animal-to-animal transmission. animal.
This scenario is the most plausible for experts, who rate a hypothesis from “likely” to “very likely.”
Another theory, defended by the US intelligence services under the Trump administration, but also by some scientists, points to an accident, that is, that the virus “escaped” from a laboratory in Wuhan, where SARS-type coronaviruses are studied. CoV-2.
The WHO report classified it as “very unlikely”, but weeks after the publication, Tedros himself said that all the hypotheses were still open to study.
Beijing mainly defends a third hypothesis that the virus may have reached humans through the cold chain, the supply line for the distribution of frozen and refrigerated food, which would mean that the virus could have emerged outside of China.
With information from AFP, Reuters and EFE