The research on origin of Covid-19 has been “frozen” inside China, marred by political infighting and bureaucratic obstacles, according to an exclusive reportage of the Associated Press brings to light a troubling pattern suppression and manipulationrevealing how Chinese authorities have stymied both domestic and international efforts to trace the source of the virus since the early weeks of the outbreak.
The narrative of collaboration quickly unraveled, with labs closing, partnerships dissolved, foreign scientists deported and Chinese researchers barred from leaving the country. These clandestine movements began much earlier than previously recognized and unfolded amid a landscape of political and scientific discord both within China and on the world stage.
The AP investigation was based on thousands of pages of declassified emails and documents, leaked audio recordings and dozens of interviews with scientists and officials. As the article states, bureaucrats in the city of Wuhan they obstructed critical initial efforts to trace the origin of the virus in an attempt to avoid blame. The central government silenced Chinese scientists and organized guided tours for UN officials; who were visiting the area.
Even the date when Chinese authorities first began looking for the origin of the virus is unclear. The first publicly known investigation into the coronavirus took place on December 31, 2019when scientists from the Chinese Center for Disease Control visited her Wuhan market, where many of the first cases of COVID-19 occurred. However, as the report points out, WHO officials had been informed of a previous market inspection in December 25, 2019, according to a transcript of a confidential WHO meeting provided to the AP. In the recording, the WHO’s top expert on the virus, Peter Ben Ebarek, told colleagues that Chinese officials that day were “looking to see what was being sold in the market, whether all the sellers had permits and whether there was illegal wildlife trade ». Ebarek said it was not a routine investigation and that the WHO will try to understand what happened. As the AP reports, neither the Chinese authorities nor the WHO have ever publicly addressed the investigation in question.
The WHO said in an email to the AP that it had not been informed of the research. Other experts said any visit to the market that day would be important, especially if animal samples were taken, because they could provide crucial evidence of how the virus passed to humans.
Zhang Yongzhen was the first scientist who published the sequence of the virus. A day after he wrote a memo urging health authorities to act immediately, China’s top health official ordered the researcher’s lab closed.
“They used their official authority against me and our colleagues,” Yongzen wrote in an email provided to the AP by Edward Holmes, an Australian virologist.
Chinese doctors and scientists were convinced that Beijing was looking for one scapegoat. The government has launched investigations into top health officials, according to two former and current officials at China’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Staff at China’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were encouraged to report their colleagues who mishandled the outbreak to the Communist Party’s disciplinary bodies. As criticism of China mounted, the country’s government deflected blame. He declared the treatment of the virus successful and stopped the research.
Politicians took control
Early on, Chinese scientists were silenced and politicians took control. As the WHO discussed with China organizing a mission to trace the origin of the new coronavirus in early 2020, it was China’s Foreign Ministry, not scientists, that decided the terms. China has refused to grant a visa to Embarek, a top WHO expert on animal viruses. From the program of the visit almost all evidence associated with the investigation was removedaccording to draft agendas obtained by the AP.
The WHO visit was led by Liang Wanyan, an epidemiologist close to top Chinese officials who is believed to he was pushing the party line and not science-backed policies, according to nine people with knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Liang also ordered to Wuhan market was disinfected before sample collection and advanced a theory that COVID-19 originated from frozen food imported into China. On a train ride with Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior adviser to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was pressed by Liang to praise China’s response to his report.
Toxic atmosphere
Until the next visit of WHO experts to Wuhan January 2021the search for origins was highly politicized. Liang, the Chinese official in charge of the two previous WHO visits, “coached” Wuhan market workers to tell WHO experts that live wildlife was not being sold there and removed recent relevant photos from the exhibition.
The WHO team concluded that their theory leak from the lab was “extremely unlikely”. Months later, the WHO chief said it was too early to dismiss that theory and demanded transparency from China, angering Chinese officials. China has told the WHO that any future missions to find the origin of COVID-19 should take place elsewhere, according to a letter obtained by the AP. Since then, the global cooperation has stopped.
Chinese scientists are still under intense pressure, according to researchers, medical experts and health officials, AP reports. Researchers who have published studies on the coronavirus have run into trouble with Chinese authorities. Others were banned from traveling abroad for WHO conferences and meetings.
The head of China’s Institute of Viral Diseases was forced to step down over the release of sensitive data from the market, according to a former official at China’s Centers for Disease Control, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions.
“It has to do with provenance, so they’re still concerned,” he said. “If you try to find the end of the thread, what if it turns out to be from China?” the official concluded.
Ultimately, the investigation into the origins of COVID-19 was derailed by political agendas, bureaucratic maneuvering and a pervasive culture of secrecy within China. Tracks were lost, leaving critical questions unanswered and the world vulnerable to future epidemics.
SOURCE: AP
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