Latest news with #MarietjieVenter
The Sun
5 hours ago
- Health
- 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'
Globe and Mail
8 hours ago
- Health
- Globe and Mail
WHO expert group fails to find a definitive answer for how COVID-19 began
An expert group charged by the World Health Organization to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic started released its final report Friday, reaching an unsatisfying conclusion: Scientists still aren't sure how the worst health emergency in a century began. At a press briefing on Friday, Marietjie Venter, the group's chair, said that most scientific data supports the hypothesis that the new coronavirus jumped to humans from animals. That was also the conclusion drawn by the first WHO expert group that investigated the pandemic's origins in 2021, when scientists concluded the virus likely spread from bats to humans, via another intermediary animal. At the time, WHO said a lab leak was 'extremely unlikely.' Venter said that after more than three years of work, WHO's expert group was unable to get the necessary data to evaluate whether or not COVID-19 was the result of a lab accident, despite repeated requests for hundreds of genetic sequences and more detailed biosecurity information that were made to the Chinese government. 'Therefore, this hypothesis could not be investigated or excluded,' she said. 'It was deemed to be very speculative, based on political opinions and not backed up by science.' She said that the 27-member group did not reach a consensus; one member resigned earlier this week and three others asked for their names to be removed from the report. Five years ago, we predicted how COVID-19 would change our world. Here's what we got right – and wrong Venter said there was no evidence to prove that COVID-19 had been manipulated in a lab, nor was there any indication that the virus had been spreading before December 2019 anywhere outside of China. 'Until more scientific data becomes available, the origins of how SARS-CoV-2 entered human populations will remain inconclusive,' Venter said, referring to the scientific name for the COVID-19 virus. 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, wiped at least US$10 trillion 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-19 began. U.S. 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.
Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
World Health Organization is STILL siding with China over Covid's origins as report rules out lab leak
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 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.
Global News
10 hours ago
- Health
- Global News
WHO still seeking COVID-19 origin, says all scenarios ‘remain on the table'
The World Health Organization says its probe into the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which caused the COVID-19 pandemic, is still ongoing, and despite a three-year investigation, has yet to find the exact cause. 'As things stand, all hypotheses must remain on the table, including zoonotic spillover and lab leak,' WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press briefing Friday. His comments came after a report published Friday from the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), which said 'available evidence' supports the hypothesis that the coronavirus jumped from animals to humans, likely from bats 'or through an intermediate host,' through a process called zoonotic spillover. SAGO is a panel of 27 independent, international, multidisciplinary experts formed by the World Health Organization to advise on technical and scientific considerations regarding emerging and re-emerging pathogens, like COVID-19. Story continues below advertisement 'While most available and accessible published scientific evidence supports hypothesis #1, zoonotic transmission from animals, possibly from bats or an intermediate host to humans, SAGO is not currently able to conclude exactly when, where and how SARS-CoV-2 first entered the human population,' the report reads. It notes the closest known 'precursor strains' were identified in bats in China and the Lao People's Democratic Republic, but says the strains are too distantly related to the virus to be the direct source of the pandemic. The report notes that some of the difficulty in determining a cause is due to China not having shared certain information, which also has made it difficult to examine the second hypothesis suggesting an accidental lab leak. The WHO requested the country share hundreds of genetic sequences from individuals with COVID-19 early in the pandemic, as well as more detailed information about the animals sold at markets in Wuhan, and information on work done and biosafety conditions at laboratories in Wuhan. Get weekly health news Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday. Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'To date, China has not shared this information either with SAGO or WHO,' a news release says. Marietjie Venter, the chair of the group, said on Friday during a press briefing that without the necessary data, it could not evaluate if the virus was the result of a lab accident. 'Therefore, this hypothesis could not be investigated or excluded,' Venter said. 'It was deemed to be very speculative, based on political opinions and not backed up by science.' Story continues below advertisement That hypothesis is one U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested as the cause, though a U.S. intelligence analysis found there was insufficient evidence to prove the theory. 1:57 WHO says COVID-19 origins still under investigation despite recent reports Two other hypotheses were also provided in the report, the first being the introduction of the virus into animal markets via 'cold chain processes' and subsequent infection in humans through contact with products sold at the market. Venter said no added evidence has become available to support the hypothesis and more data is needed to prove it. The last hypothesis, involving deliberate manipulation of the virus in a laboratory, followed by a biosafety breach, remains unsupported, with Venter noting that SAGO examined the genome structure of the virus and any related publications and reports but found no evidence to support it. All four hypotheses will be re-evaluated if further information becomes available, but Venter said the first related to zoonotic spillover is considered the supported hypothesis. Story continues below advertisement 'Until more scientific data becomes available, the origins of how SARS-CoV-2 entered human populations will remain inconclusive,' she said. Ghebreyesus recognized during the briefing that the task of investigating the cause was difficult, and told reporters that members of SAGO have not all agreed on everything, which is 'to be expected.' He said earlier this week that one member of the team resigned and three others asked for their names to be removed from the report. Ghebreyesus went on to express concerns that China had not provided further information and encouraged it, as well as other governments he said have conducted COVID-19 investigations, to provide this data. Last year, The Associated Press found that the Chinese government had frozen meaningful domestic and international efforts to trace the virus's origins in the first weeks of the outbreak in 2020, and that the WHO may have missed early opportunities to investigate how the pandemic began. Chinese officials have repeatedly dismissed the idea the pandemic could have started in a lab, saying the search 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 raccoon dogs, civet cats and bamboo rats. — with files from The Associated Press
CBC
11 hours ago
- Health
- CBC
Origins of COVID-19 still unclear according to final report from WHO expert group
An expert group charged by the World Health Organization to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic started released its final report on Friday, reaching an unsatisfying conclusion: Scientists still aren't sure how the worst health emergency in a century began. At a news briefing, Marietjie Venter, the group's chair, said that most scientific data supports the hypothesis that the new coronavirus jumped to humans from animals. That was also the conclusion drawn by the first WHO expert group that investigated the pandemic's origins in 2021, when scientists concluded the virus likely spread from bats to humans, via another intermediary animal. At the time, WHO said a lab leak was "extremely unlikely." Venter said that after more than three years of work, WHO's expert group was unable to get the necessary data to evaluate whether or not COVID-19 was the result of a lab accident, despite repeated requests for hundreds of genetic sequences and more detailed biosecurity information that were made to the Chinese government. "Therefore, this hypothesis could not be investigated or excluded," she said. "It was deemed to be very speculative, based on political opinions and not backed up by science." She said that the 27-member group did not reach a consensus; one member resigned earlier this week and three others asked for their names to be removed from the report. Venter said there was no evidence to prove that COVID-19 had been manipulated in a lab, nor was there any indication that the virus had been spreading before December 2019 anywhere outside of China. "Until more scientific data becomes available, the origins of how SARS-CoV-2 entered human populations will remain inconclusive," Venter said, referring to the scientific name for the COVID-19 virus. 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, wiped at least $10 trillion US from the global economy and upended the lives of billions. Last year, The Associated Press found that the Chinese government froze meaningful domestic and international efforts to trace the virus's origins in the first weeks of the outbreak in 2020 and that WHO itself may have missed early opportunities to investigate how COVID-19 began. U.S. 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.
