COVID-19 origin still ‘inconclusive’ after years-long WHO study

WHO main Tedros says ‘all hypotheses indispensable stay connected the table’ aft captious accusation not provided to investigators.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says efforts to uncover the root of the COVID-19 pandemic are inactive ongoing and incomplete, arsenic captious accusation has “not been provided”.

WHO main Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “all hypotheses indispensable stay connected the table” to find the origin of the virus, besides known arsenic SARS-CoV-2, aft an adept radical investigating its origins reached an unsatisfying decision successful its last study released connected Friday.

“We proceed to entreaty to China and immoderate different state that has accusation astir the origins of COVID-19 to stock that accusation openly, successful the interests of protecting the satellite from aboriginal pandemics,” Tedros said.

The planetary pandemic, which began successful 2020, killed millions worldwide, with countries enforcing lockdowns successful an effort to halt the dispersed of the virus. With the archetypal cases detected successful Wuhan, China, successful precocious 2019, accusation from the state is seen arsenic cardinal to preventing aboriginal pandemics.

In 2021, Tedros launched the WHO Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), a sheet of 27 autarkic planetary experts.

Marietjie Venter, the group’s chair, said connected Friday that astir technological information supports the proposal that the caller coronavirus jumped to humans from animals.

But she added that aft much than 3 years of work, SAGO was incapable to get the indispensable information to measure whether oregon not COVID was the effect of a laboratory accident, contempt repeated requests for elaborate accusation made to the Chinese government.

“Therefore, this proposal could not beryllium investigated oregon excluded,” she said, nevertheless adding, “It was deemed to beryllium precise speculative, based connected governmental opinions and not backed up by science.”

Venter besides said determination was nary grounds to beryllium that COVID had been manipulated successful a lab, nor was determination immoderate denotation that the microorganism had been spreading earlier December 2019 anyplace extracurricular of China.

Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines beryllium successful boxes astatine Borinquen Health Care Center connected May 29, 2025, successful Miami, Florida [Joe Raedle/Getty Images via AFP]

‘Remains inconclusive’

In 2021, a radical of experts from the WHO archetypal travelled to Wuhan to analyse the origins of the microorganism with their Chinese counterparts.

By March of that year, their associated study recovered that the astir apt proposal was from bats to humans via an intermediate animal.

They said astatine the clip that a laboratory leak was “extremely unlikely”.

However, that probe faced backlash for lacking transparency and access, and not taking the lab-leak mentation seriously.

After that, SAGO was launched.

According to the SAGO report, “the value of disposable grounds … suggests zoonotic [a illness dispersed betwixt animals to humans] spillover … either straight from bats oregon done an intermediate host”.

“Until much technological information becomes available, the origins of however SARS-CoV-2 entered quality populations volition stay inconclusive,” Venter said.

“Understanding the origins of SARS-CoV-2 and however it sparked a pandemic is needed to assistance forestall aboriginal pandemics, prevention lives and livelihoods, and trim planetary suffering,” she added.

Tedros said it was a “moral imperative” to find however COVID began, noting that the microorganism killed astatine slightest 20 cardinal people, wiped astatine slightest $10tn from the planetary system and upended the lives of billions.