At a time when the world is reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, and when we are bombarded every day with news about the different variants circulating globally—UK, Brazilian, South African, Indian—there is complete silence about the main strain that originated from Wuhan. The investigation conducted by the WHO—a team that comprised 17 Chinese scientists and 17 international scientists—was an eyewash at best, with even the organisation’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus admitting as much. “I do not believe that this assessment was extensive enough. Further data and studies will be needed to reach more robust conclusions. Although the team has concluded that a laboratory leak is the least likely hypothesis, this requires further investigation,” he said. He went on to reveal, “In my discussions with the team, they expressed the difficulties they encountered in accessing raw data.” In other words, the Chinese just refused to share data with the WHO team, because of which the most fundamental questions about the origin of the virus— where, when and how—remained unanswered. The investigation was a travesty and gave another opportunity to Beijing to get away by spreading one of the worst pandemics that the world has ever seen. Beijing flatly denied that it had any role in the spread of the virus, even though it allowed Chinese tourists to travel all over the world early in 2020, while barring all domestic travel. If this is not perfidy, what is?
It is in this context that the letter, “Investigate the origins of COVID-19”, published in the reputed journal Science, is to be welcomed. In the letter, 18 world renowned scientists have made it clear that there are too many loopholes in China’s story about the virus and hence it is time to “take hypotheses about both natural and laboratory spillovers seriously until we have sufficient data”. This essentially means that they are not discounting the possibility of the virus being man-made, in the virological laboratory in Wuhan. They go on to add that “A proper investigation should be transparent, objective, data-driven, inclusive of broad expertise, subject to independent oversight, and responsibly managed to minimize the impact of conflicts of interest.” But this is a tall ask, given the opacity of the Chinese system and Beijing’s outright denial that the virus has originated from Wuhan. However, the letter, coming from these top scientists, most of whom are based in the United States, is likely to put pressure on the Joe Biden government about being more pro-active about holding Beijing accountable for its misdeeds. It’s a classic case of justice should not only be done, but it should also be seen to be done.
If the virus is found to be laboratory made, in fact questions also need to be asked to Dr Anthony Fauci and the National Institutes for Health. Even though Dr Fauci has been denying it, there is documentary evidence that shows that the NIH perhaps funded some experiments with the SARS virus in Wuhan.
In fact, many scientists say that the virus is too “smart” for it to have occurred naturally. The way it has been mutating and bypassing immunity systems, is not observed in viruses that come from nature. In India at least, in the first wave, the virus could not tackle Indians’ natural immunity and died down gradually. Now that it has returned in a more vicious and virulent form in the second wave, questions are being asked if the virus was actually introduced in India, with the malign intention of punishing India for standing up to China in Ladakh a year ago and its subsequent actions. This needs a serious probe. The virus is affecting the lives and livelihoods of too many people in this country and around the world. Too many are dying untimely deaths. It must be found if China is responsible for this situation, as it is being suspected to be. The world needs to come together to make China pay. The US, India and other like-minded countries need to put pressure on WHO, so that a proper investigation can be conducted on the origin of the virus. On this depends finding a cure for the virus. The scientists are right, the need of the hour is an independent, data-driven investigation, for which pressure must be put on China to be truthful with the world—for once.