World Health Organization ‘Not Invited’ to Chinese Investigation of Coronavirus Origin

Dr. Gauden Galea, the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) representative in China, told Sky News on Friday that the Chinese have refused W.H.O.’s repeated requests to participate in an investigation of the origins of the Wuhan coronavirus.

“We know that some national investigation is happening but at this stage we have not been invited to join. WHO is making requests of the health commission and of the authorities,” Galea said.

“The origins of the virus are very important, the animal-human interface is extremely important and needs to be studied. The priority is we need to know as much as possible to prevent the reoccurrence,” he said.

When Sky News asked if China had a good reason for excluding W.H.O. from the investigation, Galea replied, “From our point of view, no.”

NBC News noted that Galea has questioned the low number of coronavirus cases reported by China during the early stages of the outbreak, and he has stated W.H.O. was not permitted to review records from the virology research institutes near Wuhan that many observers suspect could be the true source of the virus.

The U.S. intelligence community confirmed on Thursday that it is investigating “whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.”

China has been fiercely pushing back against calls from the United States and Australia to cooperate with a thorough international investigation of the virus and how it began spreading to humans in or near the city of Wuhan. The U.S. froze funding to W.H.O. because it has not explained why it relayed so much false information about the coronavirus from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the crucial early days of the pandemic. 

Beijing has grown more insulting, confrontational, and threatening toward Australia over the past few weeks as the Australian government refuses to back down from its calls for an investigation. This confrontational strategy appears to have backfired, as the European Union and lawmakers in several of its member countries joined Australia’s call for an investigation on Friday. Like W.H.O., the EU phrased its interest as a constructive desire to understand the virus better and work with China to prevent future pandemics, rather than an investigation of possible Chinese malfeasance.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on the other hand, accused China of deliberately concealing information about the coronavirus on Wednesday.

“I’ve been heartened to see Australia, other countries joining us, demanding an investigation, because while we know this started in Wuhan, China, we don’t yet know from where it started. And in spite of our best efforts to get experts on the ground, they continue to try and hide and obfuscate,” Pompeo said.