THE Covid-19 pandemic is currently raging across the world with over 200 million people infected and 4.4 million deaths recorded. It has become the world’s most devastating infectious disease of the century.
For mankind to defeat Covid-19, we must understand the virus. China actively engaged in origin-tracing cooperation with the World Health Organisation (WHO) from the early outbreak of Covid-19, and shared the genome sequencing of the virus at the earliest time possible.
China also invited WHO experts twice for origin-tracing research, and provided the expert team its full support.
They visited every site in their list, and met every individual they asked for. After that, WHO released the China-WHO Joint Study Report on Covid-19 origin tracing, which clearly concluded that a lab leak of Covid-19 was “extremely unlikely”.
The report also outlined several recommendations, including “searching for possible early Covid-19 cases around the world”, and the “necessity to study the possibility of virus transmission via cold chain”, which are widely recognised by the international society and scientific community.
There is growing evidence proving that the virus has long been lurking in human communities. Research conducted by medical institutions and experts showed that Covid-19 has been detected in Europe as early as November 2019, and they opined that based on the overall situation, it is an obvious fact that the disease has multiple origins, and broke out in multiple places.
It is a common understanding among the scientific community that the virus originally evolved in nature. On July 5, 24 internationally-renowned scientists, including a well-known Malaysian virologist, published an open letter in The Lancet noting that Covid-19 had generated and evolved in nature.
On July 7, scientists from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia published a preprint paper on Zenodo, a European research data-sharing platform, stating that there was no evidence to show that Covid-19 had originated from a Wuhan lab.
Nonetheless, some countries have disregarded the scientific evidence. Instead, they politicised the matter of science, instructed their intelligence agencies to carry out origin-tracing investigations, smeared and slandered other countries, and even threatened and pressured the WHO Secretariat and international experts.
The voice of justice shall not be ignored. Over 80 countries, whether through letters to the WHO director-general, statements or diplomatic notes, have expressed their support for the China-WHO Joint Study Report, and opposed the politicising of Covid-19 origin tracing.
More than 300 political parties, organisations and think tanks from over 100 countries and regions have submitted a joint statement to the WHO Secretariat, urging it to conduct Covid-19 origin-tracing research in an objective and fair manner, and opposing all forms of politicising.
The coronavirus has no borders, nor does it recognise ethnicity. China, like other countries, is also a victim of the pandemic. We all hope to find the source of the virus and cut off its transmission as early as possible.
China will always uphold the basis of science in Covid-19 origin tracing, and any politicisation of the effort must be opposed.
Right now, respecting the science and advocating cooperation are the correct approaches. The purpose of virus origin tracing is to enhance the scientific understanding of viruses, allowing us to deal with major infectious diseases better in the future.
From mankind’s experience, the origin tracing of AIDS, Ebola, MERS, SARS and the 2009 swine flu involves complicated scientific problems across multiple disciplines and fields.
The origin tracing of Covid-19 is of no difference, and the answer may only be found through scientific research.
As the virus continues to mutate and wreak havoc, combating the pandemic remains our utmost priority. China has provided over 800 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to over 100 countries and international organisations.
On Aug 5, President Xi Jinping announced that China would strive to provide two billion doses of vaccine to the world throughout this year, and donate US$100 million to the Covax programme in an effort to make new contributions to the global pandemic fight.
I believe that as long as the whole world stand united and work together, mankind will be able to dispel the dark clouds of the pandemic and usher in a victory against Covid-19!
