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Investigations into the origin of Covid-19 includes several ongoing investigations and commissions being conducted by governments and international organisations.
Chinese Government Investigations
The first investigation conducted in China was by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission, responding to hospitals reporting cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology, resulting in the closure of the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market on 1 January 2020 for environmental sanitation and disinfection. Chinese national authorities informed the WHO China Country Office of these cases on on 31 December 2019.
US Government Investigations
On February 6 2020, the director of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, requested the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a meeting of "experts, world class geneticists, coronavirus experts, and evolutionary biologists", to "assess what data, information and samples are needed to address the unknowns, in order to understand the evolutionary origins of Covid-19 and more effectively respond to both the outbreak and any resulting information".
World Health Organisation Investigation
In mid 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) began negotiations with the government of China on conducting an investigation into the origins of Covid-19. On 5 November 2020, the WHO published a "terms of reference" document for a "WHO-convened Global Study of the Origins of SARS-CoV-2" based on terms agreed in their negotiations with the government of China. The terms of reference outline a first phase of study to better understand how the virus "might have started circulating in Wuhan", and a second phase of longer-term studies based on its findings.
The WHO formed a team of thirteen researchers with expertise in virology, public health and animals to conduct investigations.
On 14 January 2021, the WHO's investigation team arrived in Wuhan, China.
The Lancet COVID Commission Task Force
On November 23, 2020, an international task force led by Dr. Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, was formed as part of The Lancet COVID-19 Commission, chaired by Dr. Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University. Daszak stated that the task force was formed to "conduct a thorough and rigorous investigation into the origins and early spread of SARS-CoV-2". The task force has 12 members with backgrounds in One Health, outbreak investigation, virology, lab biosecurity and disease ecology.
See also
References
- https://www.who.int/csr/don/05-january-2020-pneumonia-of-unkown-cause-china/en/
- https://www.nationalacademies.org/documents/link/LD006CF17B5004C7B41F63CD7E0A0F4EDF738C451F32/fileview/D20D1390AB906330493E8A40B27E965A6761F4117EA2/OSTP%20Coronavirus%20Request%20to%20NASEM_02.06.2020.pdf?hide=thumbs+breadcrumbs+favs+props+nextprev+sidebar+pin+actions&scheme=light&fitwidth
- https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/who-convened-global-study-of-the-origins-of-sars-cov-2
- https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03402-1
- https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(20)31927-9/fulltext