Fourteen countries joined the statement which expressed doubts about the reliability of the most recent WHO report.


Australia, the United States, and 12 other countries of the world in a joint statement on Tuesday challenged the reliability of the new report of the World Health Organization on the origin of the Wuhan virus.

The report, drawn up after a visit to the Chinese city of Wuhan, claims that the virus has no laboratory or artificial origin. But bats transmitted it to humans through other animals. The signatory countries expressed concern that the WHO concealed crucial data.

We believe it is extremely important to express our common concern about the international study on the source of the coronavirus, which is significantly delayed and has incomplete baseline data,  the joint statement said.

In addition to Australia and the United States, Israel, Canada, Japan, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, South Korea, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom signed the statement.


US demands from the WHO to study the pandemic with the international experts

The White House emphasised that the WHO report did not provide satisfactory answers to the questions raised around the pandemic.

White House's spokeswoman Ms. Jen Psaki urged the organization to arrange for the second phase of the study with international and independent experts. She called upon the WHO to conduct more detailed verification of the data on the origin of the virus.

They need to be given unlimited access to data. They must have the ability to speak with the people who were there at the time, and WHO  can take this step, stated Ms. Psaki.

White House's spokeswoman also expressed concern about the content of the report. According to her, it did not bring the world community closer to understanding how exactly began a pandemic in Wuhan, China. It means that such a report will not help prevent a similar situation in the future.

►Conclusion of the new WHO report

On March 30, the World Health Organization published in Geneva the full 40-page version of the report on their visit to Communist China's city of Wuhan in January and February 2021. The goal of the visit was to identify the origin of the Wuhan virus.

The WHO considered the most likely scenario for the transmission of the virus from an animal to another animal, and then to a person. The laboratory origin of SARS-CoV-2 was the least likely, the authors stated.

The WHO studied 4 scenarios and graded them in the following way according to the degree of probability:

■ route of infection through an intermediate carrier - rated in the range of "probable to highly probable",
■ the variant of direct transmission of infection from animal to human, scientists assessed on a scale "from possible to probable."
■ The possibility of the emergence of the coronavirus in Wuhan through the supply of refrigerated food is considered "possible."
■ The scenario of human infection due to a “laboratory incident” is considered “highly unlikely”.