Highly speculative to say COVID-19 did not emerge in China: WHO

A file photo of a man looking over a barricade set up to keep people out of a residential compound in Chinau00c3u00a2u00c2u0080u00c2u0099s central Hubei province. Pic/AFP

The World Health Organisation's top emergency expert said on Friday it would be "highly speculative" for the WHO to say the Coronavirus did not emerge in China, where it was first identified in a food market in December last year.

Various outlets of the state-run Chinese media have been carrying reports in recent days stating that a number of imported food products from different countries, including a consignment of fish from India, were found to have traces of the COVID-19 alleging that the virus may have entered China through foreign routes.

"I think it's highly speculative for us to say that the disease did not emerge in China," Mike Ryan said at a virtual briefing in Geneva after being asked if COVID-19 could have first emerged outside China. "It is clear from a public health perspective that you start your investigations where the human cases first emerged," he added, saying that evidence might then lead to other places.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing that "even though China was the first to report Coronavirus, it doesn't necessarily mean China is where the virus originated".

"So,âu00c2u0080u00c2u008a we believe the origin process is a complex scientific issue, which requires joint efforts on COVID-19 cooperation from the scientific community worldwide. Only by doing so can we guard against future risks because origin tracing is an evolving and sustained process that involves many countries and regions," he said.

‘Lithuanian mink also infected'
VILNIUS: Amid rising fears that Coronavirus mutations in minks may affect vaccine efficacy, Lithuania's veterinary agency said "dozens" had been killed. The agency head Darius Remeika said that the viral source was possibly a worker at the mink farm.

Rising cases cause concern in S Korea
SEOUL: South Korea has reported more than 500 new Coronavirus cases for the third straight day, the speed of viral spread unseen since the worst wave of the outbreak in spring.The 504 cases reported by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday brought the national caseload to 33,375, including 522 deaths. Around 330 of the new cases came from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area.

6,21,09,453
TOTAL Number OF CORONAVIRUS CASES IN THE WORLD
14,51,753
Number OF DEATHS WORLDWIDE
4,28,99,940
Number OF RECOVERED PATIENTS

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