‘Highly Speculative’ To Say That Coronavirus Did Not Originate In China: WHO Expert

After China claimed that the coronavirus may have entered China from other places, the WHO expert has raised doubts about it.

New Delhi: The World Health Organization's top emergency expert Mike Ryan said that it would be "highly speculative" to say that coronavirus did not emerge in China after the country raised questions over its origin. Ryan said this during a virtual briefing in Geneva in which he was asked if the virus emerged outside China. This comes at a time when China has raised questions on coronavirus originating in Wuhan. Ahead of an inquiry by WHO on the origin of the virus, China on Friday has said that even though the first cases of Covid-19 emerged from Wuhan, it does not necessarily mean that the virus originated there. A report by PTI says that various outlets of the state-run Chinese media have been carrying reports claiming that the virus could have entered the country through 'foreign routes'. The Chinese media has said that a number of imported food products from different countries, which includes a consignment of fish from India, were found to have traces of the Covid-19. "Even though China was the first to report coronavirus but doesn't necessarily mean China is where the virus originated". We believe the origin process is a complex scientific issue that requires joint efforts on COVID-19 cooperation from the scientific community worldwide. Only by doing so we can guard against future risks because origin tracing is an evolving and sustained process that involves many countries and regions," said Zhao Lijian, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman during a media briefing. A WHO team is due to arrive in China to investigate the origin of the virus and will begin from Wuhan where the first case of Covid-19 was reported in 2019.