WHO chief Tedros asks China to give ‘full access’ to solve Covid-19's origins

He said WHO is ready to send another team to investigate the origin of the disease.

“We’re pressing China to give full access, and we are asking countries to raise it during their bilateral meetings — [to urge Beijing] to co-operate,” Tedros was quoted as saying by Financial Times.

 “We have already asked in writing to give us information . . . and also [are] willing to send a team if they allow us to do so," he said.

Tedros told the Financial Times that he travelled to Beijing in order to convince Chinese president Xi Jinping in January 2020 to allow the first Covid-19 mission of WHO experts, led by the health body’s Bruce Aylward, into the country.

The two most prominent theories envisage either a zoonotic jump from animals to humans via Wuhan’s wet food markets or contagion stemming from an accidental leak from the city’s virology laboratory, the newspaper reported.

However, no scientific consensus emerged from the debate.

“Unless we get evidence beyond reasonable doubt, we cannot just say this or that,” he told the newspaper. But he believes “we will get the answer. It’s a matter of time.”

A WHO team visited China in 2021 to trace the origin of the disease.

However, the report from the visit reportedly remained inconclusive.

“On the origin study, since they are not giving us full access, we started discussions in private and then when they refused to co-operate, we made it public,” Tedros said.