WHO chief reiterates virus had natural origin
FILE - This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes COVID-19. The sample was isolated from a patient in the U.S. On Tuesday, April 21, 2020, U.S. health regulators OK'd the first coronavirus test that allows people to collect their own sample at home, a new approach that could help expand testing options in most states. The sample will still have to be shipped for processing back to LabCorp, which operates diagnostic labs throughout the U.S.[NIAID-RML via AP]
The head of emergencies at the World Health Organization reiterated that the group believes the novel coronavirus is "natural in origin."
Dr. Michael Ryan responded Friday to to comments by U.S. President Donald Trump, who said he has seen information that the virus may have emerged from a virology institute in China.
Ryan said WHO teams have listened "again and again" to many scientists who have looked at the gene sequences and the virus, "and we are assured that this virus is natural in origin."
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Ryan said it was important to establish the natural host of the virus, which could help pave the way for a better understanding of it and ways to prevent and respond to future outbreaks.
On Thursday, Trump suggested he was confident that China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology was at the origin of the coronavirus, before again criticizing WHO’s early response to the outbreak. Most scientists believe the virus emerged at a market in the Chinese city, linked to an animal that has not yet been identified.
The WHO’s Emergency Committee on the COVID-19 outbreak recommended Friday that the outbreak remains an international public health emergency, its highest level of alert.