China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that the country has shared the most data and research results on COVID-19 within the international community. The statement came in response to recent demands from the World Health Organisation (WHO), which insisted on providing more information and access to study the origin of the pandemic, Reuters reports.
On Tuesday, 31 December, at a regular press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that China is the only country that has repeatedly organised experts to exchange information with the WHO on research related to identifying the sources of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. According to her, Beijing continues to support global efforts to understand the origin of the virus that caused the pandemic.
Last Monday, the WHO issued an official statement reiterating its call on China to provide more data and access to continue research into the origins of COVID-19, which was first reported in China five years ago. According to the WHO, more than 760 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported worldwide, and the number of pandemic victims has exceeded 6.9 million.
China, for its part, indicates that all the necessary data has been provided and that further research should be carried out in other countries. Minister Mao Ning noted that Chinese scientists had invested significant efforts in studying the origin of the virus and shared the results in an international database in early 2023, after the country lifted all COVID-19-related restrictions.
In 2021, a WHO mission to China completed a study that found the virus in environmental samples, where traces of DNA from various animals, including raccoons, were detected, which some experts believe could be the “most likely transmission channels” of the disease. However, the mission’s findings were not unanimously accepted by the international community, and some researchers continue to support the theory that the virus may have escaped from the laboratory.
The Chinese Foreign Minister assured that the country has already made a significant contribution to global research and noted that international experts who visited China had access to all the necessary facilities and persons, which gives hope for transparency and completeness of information.
