GENEVA -- An international team behind a long-awaited study of the possible origins of Covid-19 with Chinese colleagues on Tuesday called it a “first start,” while the United States and allies expressed concerns about the findings and China trumpeted its cooperation.
After the report's publication, the US and over a dozen other countries expressed concerns about the study, pointing to delays and a lack of access to samples and data — without finger-pointing at Beijing directly. China responded by reiterating its criticism of efforts to “politicize” the issue. Separately, in what it called a joint statement by 14 countries, the State Department said they were calling for “momentum” for a second-phase look by experts and pointed to the need for further animal studies “to find the means of introduction into humans” of the coronavirus.
A statement on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's web site after the release pointed to China's cooperation with WHO and said the Chinese side of the team “offered necessary facilitation for the team’s work, fully demonstrating its openness, transparency and responsible attitude.” Joined by several team members for a news conference, Ben Embarek said that “where we did not have full access to all the raw data we wanted, that has been put as a recommendation for the future studies.”
“We haven’t seen or been able to hear or see or look at anything that would warrant different conclusions from our side,” he said.