WHO urges China to release data on raccoon dogs at Wuhan Market

The World Health Organization on Friday called on China to release recent data linking the Covid pandemic’s origins to animal samples at Wuhan Market after the country recently took down the research. 

The agency said China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention uploaded data to the general public virus tracking database GISAID in late January regarding samples taken on the Huanan market in Wuhan in 2020. 

Researchers from several countries downloaded and analyzed the info before it was removed, and presented their findings to the WHO last weekend. The researchers found molecular evidence that raccoon dogs and other animals liable to Covid were sold on the market, which is consistent with hypotheses in regards to the virus spilling into humans from a wild animal.

The brand new data doesn’t provide a conclusive answer to how the pandemic began, “however it does provide more clues” a couple of potential host of the virus that spread it to humans, said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead. She called on China to publicly release the info so the WHO and other researchers can further analyze it and inch closer to understanding the origins of a pandemic that has killed tens of millions of individuals worldwide.

“The massive issue without delay is that this data exists and that it is just not available to the international community,” said Van Kerkhove. “That is initially absolutely critical, not to say that it must have been made available years earlier, but that data must be made accessible to individuals who can access it, who can analyze it and who can discuss it with one another.”

The WHO’s call comes as the controversy over the origin of Covid intensifies. Researchers are clashing over competing theories and governments are staking out positions on what to do next.

The Recent York Times earlier reported on the brand new data on Thursday. Researchers told the Times that the molecular data was collected from swabs of partitions, floors, metal cages and carts in and across the market starting in January 2020. On the time, the Chinese government had already shut down the market over suspicions that it was linked to the Covid outbreak. 

Researchers added that enormous amounts of the info were a match for raccoon dogs. 

Van Kerkhove emphasized that the info doesn’t necessarily prove that a raccoon dog or one other animal was infected with the virus and spread it to people. But she said it does establish that animals who can carry Covid were sold on the market, which is “recent information.”

It’s unknown where the animals got here from and whether or not they were wild or domestic, she added. The WHO is pushing for studies to be conducted in other markets in Wuhan and across China, based on Van Kerkhove. It is usually in search of serology tests, which measure antibodies, for individuals who worked on the markets.

Van Kerkhove also noted that “all hypotheses” on how Covid entered the human population are still on the table. She said more research is required on potential breaches in biosecurity from a lab or whether the virus originated in a bat before jumping to humans.

“We haven’t got all of the data in front of us, and we’d like to find a way to take a look at all of those different hypotheses. We’d like to take a look at all of the info which might be needed to evaluate each certainly one of these in order that we will say this will have happened, this will not have happened,” she said.

She added that the WHO “won’t find a way to remove different hypotheses” until China reuploads its data. 

FBI Director Christopher Wray said earlier this month that the bureau believes Covid most probably originated in a Chinese government-controlled lab.

In February, the Department of Energy assessed “with low confidence” that Covid leaked from a lab.

Roughly 44% of U.S. adults consider the virus spilled from a virology lab in Wuhan, China, while 26% say it moved naturally from animals to humans, based on a Morning Seek the advice of poll released last month.