logo
World Health Organization is STILL siding with China over Covid's origins as report rules out lab leak

World Health Organization is STILL siding with China over Covid's origins as report rules out lab leak

Daily Mail​6 hours ago

A group of experts investigating Covid origins on behalf of the World Health Organization revealed they still aren't sure how the pandemic began.
At a press briefing Friday, chair of the group Marietjie Venter said most data supports the idea that Covid jumped to humans from animals.
It's the same conclusion the WHO drew in 2021, when scientists said the virus likely spread from bats to human through another 'intermediary animal.'
Venter said that after three years of investigating, the WHO group was unable to get necessary data to determine if Covid was the result of a lab leak, despite hundreds of requests for genetic sequences and biosecurity information to the Chinese government.
She said: 'Therefore, this hypothesis could not be investigated or excluded. It was deemed to be very speculative, based on political opinions and not backed up by science.'
She said there was no evidence to prove that Covid had been manipulated in a lab, nor was there any indication that the virus had been spreading before December 2019 anywhere outside of China.
Venter claims the 27-member group did not reach a firm consensus on Covid's origins, as one member resigned earlier this week and three others asked for their names to be removed from the report.
She said: 'Until more scientific data becomes available, the origins of how SARS-CoV-2 entered human populations will remain inconclusive.'
The report comes after US authorities said earlier this month they had 'seized' Dr Anthony Fauci's old phone in search of answers about Covid's origin.
FBI boss Kash Patel told Joe Rogan: 'We found it [the devices], and at least we can tell the American people we've been looking because it is of public importance to figure out, did that guy lie?
'Did he intentionally mislead the world and cause countless deaths?'
The FBI and CIA have both asserted they think Covid most likely originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, which was conducting risky experiments on coronaviruses in the years leading up to the pandemic.
Some of those experiments were funded by US taxpayer money through grants awarded by Dr Fauci's old department, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was a 'moral imperative' to determine how Covid began, noting that the virus killed at least 20 million people worldwide, wiped at least $10trillion from the global economy and upended the lives of billions.
Last year, the AP found that the Chinese government froze meaningful domestic and international efforts to trace the virus' origins in the first weeks of the outbreak in 2020 and that WHO itself may have missed early opportunities to investigate how Covid began.
President Donald Trump has long blamed the emergence of the coronavirus on a laboratory accident in China, while a U.S. intelligence analysis found there was insufficient evidence to prove the theory.
Chinese officials have repeatedly dismissed the idea that the pandemic could have started in a lab, saying that the search for its origins should be conducted in other countries.
Last September, researchers zeroed in on a short list of animals they think might have spread COVID-19 to humans, including racoon dogs, civet cats and bamboo rats.
The German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) carried out a secret investigation into the origins of Covid nicknamed Project Saaremaa during the pandemic, sharing the findings with the US in December 2024.
Investigators found unpublished dissertations from 2019 and 2020 that allegedly discussed the effects of coronaviruses on the human body.
Additionally, uncovered materials revealed Chinese scientists had 'an unusually large amount of knowledge about the supposedly novel virus available at an unusually early stage.'
Based on the materials BND agents found and analyzed, they used a 'Probability Index' to measure the reliability of information, which determined the lab-leak theory was 'probable' with an '80 to 95 percent' certainty.
Robert Redfield, former CDC director when the pandemic erupted, also accused American and British health agencies of shutting down concerns over potential lab leaks.
He previously told DailyMail.com he is '100 percent' convinced Covid was the result of scientists becoming infected while carrying out high-risk experiments to boost the infectivity of bat viruses amid low biosecurity in Wuhan labs.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

World Health Organisation admits they STILL have no idea what caused Covid pandemic – but refuses to rule out lab leak
World Health Organisation admits they STILL have no idea what caused Covid pandemic – but refuses to rule out lab leak

Scottish Sun

time3 hours ago

  • Scottish Sun

World Health Organisation admits they STILL have no idea what caused Covid pandemic – but refuses to rule out lab leak

Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A LEADING theory that the Covid pandemic originated from a lab leak in China cannot be ruled out, the World Health Organisation said. A team of experts set up by the WHO in 2021 to investigate Covid's origins said 'all hypotheses remain on the table' - while also accusing Beijing of not giving up critical information. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 7 China's Wuhan lab has been at the centre of the lab leak theory since Covid emerged just miles from the facility 7 Staff members line up at attention as they prepare to spray disinfectant at Wuhan Railway Station 7 Dr Shi Zhengli - dubbed 'Batwoman' for her research on bat coronaviruses - at the Wuhan Institute of Virology The Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (Sago) said on Friday that most data suggests the idea that the virus jumped from animals to humans. This is the same conclusion the WHO came to in 2021. Watch the documentary in full on our YouTube channel here Their new report made the bombshell claim that a lab leak theory should "not be ruled out". But they added: "Nor can it be proven until more information is provided." Group chair Marietjie Venter said after three years of investigating, they were unable to come to a certain conclusion of the pandemic's origins. They blasted China for not releasing all necessary data to determine Covid's creation - despite hundreds of requests for genetic sequences and biosecurity information to the government. She Venter: "Therefore, this hypothesis could not be investigated or excluded. "It was deemed to be very speculative, based on political opinions and not backed up by science." Venter said the 27-member group could not reach a unanimous conclusion on Covid's origins, following one member's resignation earlier this week. Three other scientists also asked for their names to be removed from the new report. I was in Oval Office with Trump at start of pandemic - no one was closer to Chinese officials than me & I believe Covid was engineered in lab Covid-19 emerged just eight miles from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Scientists there had been importing and manipulating bat coronaviruses and had been filmed handling animals with inadequate protection. Venter added that there was no evidence proving Covid was created in a lab, nor was there any indication it was spreading before December 2019 anywhere outside of China. She said: "Until more scientific data becomes available, the origins of how SARS-CoV-2 entered human populations will remain inconclusive." Beijing has consistently refused to release full details about the lab in Wuhan, despite repeated requests for information from multiple countries. 7 A woman wearing a face mask holds a baby that wears a protective shield in Wuhan 7 The P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan Credit: AFP 7 Covid killed millions worldwide in the pandemic It comes after The Sun's explosive Covid lab leak documentary laid bare the mounting evidence and disturbing questions surrounding the virus's emergence in Wuhan - home to China's most secretive bio-research facility. In April, the US unveiled a bombshell new web page on the origins of Covid, blaming the Wuhan Institute of Virology for unleashing the killer virus. And in a fresh propaganda push, Beijing insisted "substantial evidence" showed Covid "might have emerged in the United States earlier than its officially-claimed timeline, and earlier than the outbreak in China". The document - titled Covid-19 Prevention, Control and Origins Tracing: China's Actions and Stance - was released via China's official Xinhua news agency. It unashamedly accused the US of "indifference and delayed actions" during the global Covid fight - and of scapegoating China to deflect from its own "mismanaged" response. It wrote: "The US has made China the primary scapegoat for its own mismanaged COVID-19 response." 7 Security guards keep watch outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology The report added that America was 'spreading misinformation' and wasted 'precious time China had secured for the global fight against the pandemic". It revived Beijing's long-standing claims that it shared information with the world in a "timely manner". The paper added: 'The US should not continue to 'pretend to be deaf and dumb', but should respond to the legitimate concerns of the international community.' In May Donald Trump banned all US funding for risky virus research in China and beyond, five years after Covid-19 upended the planet. The US President said in the Oval Office last month: 'I said that right from day one it leaked out — whether it was to the girlfriend or somebody else, [a] scientist walked outside to have lunch with the girlfriend or was together with a lot of people — but that's how it leaked out in my opinion."

World Health Organisation admits they STILL have no idea what caused Covid pandemic – but refuses to rule out lab leak
World Health Organisation admits they STILL have no idea what caused Covid pandemic – but refuses to rule out lab leak

The Sun

time3 hours ago

  • The Sun

World Health Organisation admits they STILL have no idea what caused Covid pandemic – but refuses to rule out lab leak

A LEADING theory that the Covid pandemic originated from a lab leak in China cannot be ruled out, the World Health Organisation said. A team of experts set up by the WHO in 2021 to investigate Covid's origins said 'all hypotheses remain on the table' - while also accusing Beijing of not giving up critical information. 7 7 7 The Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (Sago) said on Friday that most data suggests the idea that the virus jumped from animals to humans. This is the same conclusion the WHO came to in 2021. Watch the documentary in full on our YouTube channel here Their new report made the bombshell claim that a lab leak theory should "not be ruled out". But they added: "Nor can it be proven until more information is provided." Group chair Marietjie Venter said after three years of investigating, they were unable to come to a certain conclusion of the pandemic's origins. They blasted China for not releasing all necessary data to determine Covid's creation - despite hundreds of requests for genetic sequences and biosecurity information to the government. She Venter: "Therefore, this hypothesis could not be investigated or excluded. "It was deemed to be very speculative, based on political opinions and not backed up by science." Venter said the 27-member group could not reach a unanimous conclusion on Covid's origins, following one member's resignation earlier this week. Three other scientists also asked for their names to be removed from the new report. I was in Oval Office with Trump at start of pandemic - no one was closer to Chinese officials than me & I believe Covid was engineered in lab Covid-19 emerged just eight miles from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Scientists there had been importing and manipulating bat coronaviruses and had been filmed handling animals with inadequate protection. Venter added that there was no evidence proving Covid was created in a lab, nor was there any indication it was spreading before December 2019 anywhere outside of China. She said: "Until more scientific data becomes available, the origins of how SARS-CoV-2 entered human populations will remain inconclusive." Beijing has consistently refused to release full details about the lab in Wuhan, despite repeated requests for information from multiple countries. 7 7 7 It comes after The Sun's explosive Covid lab leak documentary laid bare the mounting evidence and disturbing questions surrounding the virus's emergence in Wuhan - home to China's most secretive bio-research facility. In April, the US unveiled a bombshell new web page on the origins of Covid, blaming the Wuhan Institute of Virology for unleashing the killer virus. And in a fresh propaganda push, Beijing insisted "substantial evidence" showed Covid "might have emerged in the United States earlier than its officially-claimed timeline, and earlier than the outbreak in China". The document - titled Covid-19 Prevention, Control and Origins Tracing: China's Actions and Stance - was released via China's official Xinhua news agency. It unashamedly accused the US of "indifference and delayed actions" during the global Covid fight - and of scapegoating China to deflect from its own "mismanaged" response. It wrote: "The US has made China the primary scapegoat for its own mismanaged COVID-19 response." The report added that America was 'spreading misinformation' and wasted 'precious time China had secured for the global fight against the pandemic". It revived Beijing's long-standing claims that it shared information with the world in a "timely manner". The paper added: 'The US should not continue to 'pretend to be deaf and dumb', but should respond to the legitimate concerns of the international community.' In May Donald Trump banned all US funding for risky virus research in China and beyond, five years after Covid-19 upended the planet. The US President said in the Oval Office last month: 'I said that right from day one it leaked out — whether it was to the girlfriend or somebody else, [a] scientist walked outside to have lunch with the girlfriend or was together with a lot of people — but that's how it leaked out in my opinion." The Sun's investigation into the origins of Covid 'Smoking gun' docs show US scientists planned to make viruses in Wuhan with SAME features of Covid year before outbreak Pentagon was told SIX times that Covid was lab leak at start of pandemic – but buried the truth, ex-intel official says US government backed shock Wuhan lab plan to collect 500,000 viruses months before Covid… and KNEW it was dangerous Wuhan Covid 'lab leak' firm given $60m US taxpayer funding for MORE virus tests Covid was 'perfectly adapted' to infect humans when virus emerged in Wuhan which 'proves' lab leak Bombshell clues that 'prove' China hid Covid lab leak in 'cover up of the century worse than Watergate' Crumbling sewers, no PPE, & filthy cages – Inside 'chaotic & crowded' Wuhan labs which may have unleashed Covid Wuhan Covid 'lab leak' scientists were 'bitten by bats & sprayed with blood' China's OWN scientists discussed 'problems' with Wuhan lab days after Covid outbreak Secret memo shows how panicked China ordered labs to destroy Covid samples Wuhan lab chief 'ordered scientists not to talk about Covid origins ' in leaked email France 'warned Wuhan lab could be turned into a 'biological arsenal' by Chinese military four years before Covid 'leak'

Your Nike shoes are about to cost a whole lot more thanks to Donald Trump, company warns
Your Nike shoes are about to cost a whole lot more thanks to Donald Trump, company warns

The Independent

time3 hours ago

  • The Independent

Your Nike shoes are about to cost a whole lot more thanks to Donald Trump, company warns

Nike warned that tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump will cost the company about $1 billion as it looks to make 'surgical' price increases in the fall. The company is shifting production away from China, where Nike makes about 16 percent of the footwear it imports into the U.S., Chief Financial Officer Matthew Friend told investors Thursday. 'We will optimize our sourcing mix and allocate production differently across countries to mitigate the new cost headwind into the United States,' Friend said on the call. The sports giant appears to be unloading some of the burden of the tariffs onto customers. Last month Nike announced it was increasing prices for adult apparel and equipment by $2 to $10 from June 1. It forecast that footwear costing between $100 to $150 would rise by $5, while shoes costing above $150 would increase by $10. There were some exceptions — the price of children's products, Nike Air Force 1s or Jordan products would not rise. 'We regularly evaluate our business and make pricing adjustments as part of our seasonal planning,' Nike previously said in a statement, without mention of the tariffs. Nike also reported a quarterly profit of $211 million, or 14 cents per share. Revenue totaled $11.1 billion. Both edged out Wall Street projections. Nike, Adidas, Under Armour and Puma were among 76 companies that signed a letter in April addressed to Trump, asking for a footwear exemption from reciprocal tariffs. The letter warned tariffs would 'become a major impact at the cash register for every family.' The potential for higher prices from Trump's tariffs have raised alarms for families, notably those who already spend a good chunk of money on equipment needed to participate in sports. Trump and his Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said late Thursday that the U.S. and China have signed an agreement on trade, but provided no details. Elsewhere, Trump on Friday said he was suspending all trade talks with Canada — and making plans to force Americans to pay high import taxes on its goods — after the northern ally's finance department confirmed plans to collect a digital services tax.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store