The World Health Organization (WHO) said it is assured that coronavirus is natural in origin, and it is vital to establish the natural host for the virus, after the US president said he had seen evidence it originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
TRUMP SAID HE WAS CONFIDENT WUHAN LAB WAS THE ORIGIN OF DISEASE
Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s emergencies program, was answering a question on Friday about the claim made by President Donald Trump when he accused WHO of being a “public relations agency for China.”
The question was directed at WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who sidestepped Trump’s claims during the thrice-weekly press conference on the novel coronavirus.
Instead, Ryan said: “With regard to the origins of the virus in Wuhan – again and again to numerous scientists who looked at the sequences and looked at this virus, we are assured that this virus is natural in origin.”
“What is important is that we establish that natural host for this virus is,” said Ryan. He said the primary purpose of doing that is to ensure that scientists understand the virus more.
Trump last month said that the WHO is “China-centric,” asserting it had been a source of poor information for governments worldwide, particularly its opposition to countries closing their borders to China after the virus emerged there in December.