The World Health Organization is sticking by its assessment that COVID-19 cases first emerged in the city of Wuhan in late 2019, in essence rejecting China’s new propaganda push that infections began in other countries.
Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO’s executive director for health emergency program, said at a press briefing:
“I think it’s highly speculative for us to say that the diseases did not emerge in China. What we do know is the first clusters of human cases that were detected were in Wuhan China.”
Dr. Ryan indicated Chinese authorities still have not allowed a WHO team to look at China’s own investigation into the virus’s origin.
“We are working with them to send a team to the ground,” he said at a Nov. 27 briefing in Geneva. “The evidence should take us where we need to go. But to speculate on where the virus emerged precisely without starting where the human diseases emerged for us doesn’t represent the best way forward.”
Previous studies have stated that Chinese travelers first infected Europe in Rome and, or, in Lombardy, Italy, in February 2020. From there, Italians took the virus to Spain and then the germ went to the rest of Europe. Europeans then likely brought the disease to the U.S. East Coast. The first U.S. diagnosed case emerged in mid-January in Washington state from a traveler who came from Wuhan.
The coronavirus pandemic has today infected over 63 million people and killed over 1.4 million.
As the toll mounts, communist China’s various propaganda arms have attempted to shift blame outside their country to other sources, such as the U.S. military or Italy or India.
Reuters reported that the Italian National Cancer Institute found the virus in Milan in September, meaning it may have spread undetected from China earlier than first thought. WHO says it is evaluating the finding.
In early 2020, China claimed the virus was planted by the U.S. military during an athletic competition in Wuhan. China also has claimed the virus came from secret U.S. bio labs around the world. There has been no evidence for these allegations. China has also said the virus came from imported food.
What is known is that the first cases emerged in Wuhan. State authorities said the virus likely came from a live animal market. The coronavirus is carried by bats, which the Chinese import into city markets.
As physicians tried to alert the world, Chinese police took them into custody and labeled them “rumor mongers.” China also erroneously reported in early 2020 that the virus was not human contagious, which WHO repeated to the world.
U.S intelligence believes the virus may have accidentally leaked from a Wuhan laboratory where the coronavirus is studied.
On speculation the virus came from minks or the animals in Europe, Dr. Ryan said, “There’s no evidence that mammals in the European environment were the source of this disease originally for humans or outside China.”
He added, “You start your investigations where the human cases first emerged. In that regard, the first cluster of cases, and again the astute clinicians in Wuhan picked up a cluster of unusual atypical pneumonia.”
On the question of from where precisely those Chinese case viruses came, Dr. Ryan said, “nobody has that answer.”
The Trump White House is confident the virus was created and emerged first in China. President Trump calls the disease the “China Virus.” Aide Peter Navarro has accused the communist regime of deliberately infecting the world. It did not want to fall behind economically so the authorities let Wuhan residents travel to the U.S. and Europe in early 2020.
In June, Li Gang, a broadcaster on China’s propaganda Global Television Network, said his country will emerge in a “leading role” in a post-virus world.
“Because China has proven its ability to control the coronavirus, this campaign should be considered as an American preemptive strike against China in preparation for the post-coronavirus conflict. The balance of power in the world is expected to change when the coronavirus crisis is over,” Mr. Li said. “A lot has been said about the progress of China, which will take a leading role in the new world order at the expense of America’s power and position.”
• Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com.
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