WHO denies shift on Covid-19 origin probe after China mission leader cites ‘probable hypothesis’

Peter Ben Embarek says in interview a researcher collecting bat viruses in the wild was a ‘probable hypothesis’, under any of four scenarios given in WHO report

He also says the Chinese team resisted including the lab leak theory, and suggests further study of a CDC lab near the market linked to early infections

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Peter Ben Embarek, who led the World Health Organization probe in China this year, made his comments in an interview in Denmark. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:10pm, 14 Aug 2021Updated: 6:14pm, 14 Aug 2021

The World Health Organization has denied shifting stance on its Covid-19 origins investigation in China after the head of its expert team gave an interview suggesting a lab researcher collecting bat viruses in the wild was a “probable hypothesis”.

Scientist Peter Ben Embarek told broadcaster TV2 in his native Denmark that transmission from bats to humans could be considered in the context of four scenarios included in the joint WHO-China report. The four scenarios were direct animal-to-human spillover; original host to human via an intermediary; introduction through frozen products; and lab leak.

In the report, published in March, the possibility of researchers being infected in the field was not mentioned.

The WHO said Embarek gave the interviews in March and April, and did not contain “new elements nor a change of position. All hypotheses are on the table and the WHO works with member states on the next step.”

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WHO ends Covid-19 mission in Wuhan, says lab leak ‘extremely unlikely’

Embarek also told TV2 that Chinese counterparts had resisted including the lab leak theory in the findings, and he suggested looking more closely at a lab operated by China’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Wuhan, 500 metres from the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, where several of the first coronavirus infections were detected.