Editorial: Beijing must come clean

Putting together the pieces on how Covid-19 originated through a dispassionate probe is vital

Hyderabad: The origin of coronavirus continues to engage the attention of scientists and the intelligence community. The latest classified intelligence report from the United States has concluded that the deadly virus most likely arose from a laboratory leak in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the devastating pandemic. The US Energy Department, which has considerable scientific expertise and oversees a network of national laboratories engaged in advanced biological research, has come to the conclusion that the virus could have escaped from the lab due to a possible mishap. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) too had come to a similar conclusion in 2021. The onus is now on Beijing to clear the air once and for all and come clean on the widespread allegations of obfuscation, suppression of facts and stonewalling a fair and impartial probe. Greater clarity on the origin of the virus, which has already claimed millions of lives across the world and shattered the global economy, is necessary to formulate appropriate strategies to tackle the health crisis and mitigate the risk of future pandemic outbreaks. The international community must be united in its efforts to discipline China for failing to quickly alert the world to the virus outbreak and its obstruction of the investigation into the origins of the deadly pathogen. In the past, a joint investigation, carried out by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and China, had failed to clear doubts among the scientific community.

Information, data, and samples for that study were collected and summarised by a team of Chinese scientists and the mandate did not include any lab investigations. China has all along disputed that the virus could have leaked from one of its labs and has suggested it emerged outside China. The emergence of the pandemic heightened tensions between the US and China, which American officials alleged was withholding information about the outbreak. At first, the dominant view was that the virus likely arose naturally when it leapt from an animal to a human, as had happened in the past. But as time elapsed and no animal host was found, there has been greater focus on coronavirus research in Wuhan and the potential for an accidental laboratory leak. A dispassionate investigation is needed to study the origin of the deadly pandemic and put an end, once and for all, to the debate. The fact that Wuhan is the centre of China’s extensive coronavirus research, has led some scientists and US officials to argue that a lab leak is the best explanation for the pandemic’s beginning. Even the internal Chinese documents show that there were persistent concerns about China’s biosafety procedures, which have been cited by proponents of the lab-leak hypothesis. Putting together the pieces on how Covid-19 originated through a dispassionate probe is vital. An incomplete answer will not do.