WHO to not issue interim report on Wuhan virus mission: Report

The World Health Organisation has reportedly decided to not issue the interim report on the origins of the coronavirus that was supposed to be issued by a team that visited Wuhan, China, last month, The Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday.

The WHO team visited Wuhan, which is the city where the pandemic is believed to have originated in late 2019, last month to trace the origin of the virus. The team returned saying it had no clear findings. Following this, WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had said that a preliminary report would be issued soon with a summary of the team’s findings. 

The organisation has now reportedly decided to not issue the interim report, the Journal reported quoting Peter Ben Embarek, the scientist who led the team.

The team will, however, publish the full and final report, with a summary of its findings, the newspaper said, quoting a WHO spokesman.

Meanwhile, the United States has expressed “deep concerns” about the investigation. 

US State Department spokesman Ned Price on Thursday called on China to share what it knows from the earliest days of the pandemic.

“It is about learning and doing, being positioned to do everything we can to protect ourselves, the American people, and the international community against pandemic threats going forward,” Price said. 

“That’s why we need this understanding. That’s why we need this transparency from the Chinese government,” he added.