US Health Secretary Calls For "Transparent" Phase 2 Of Covid Origins Probe

In March, the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a report written jointly with Chinese scientists on the origins of COVID-19, saying the chances of it having started in a lab were "extremely unlikely".

US Health Secretary Xavier Becerra has urged the WHO to ensure that the next phase of investigation into COVID-19's origins are more "transparent" and "science-based", amidst media reports here suggesting growing evidence that the virus could have emerged from a laboratory in China. In March, the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a report written jointly with Chinese scientists on the origins of COVID-19, saying the chances of it having started in a lab were "extremely unlikely". But the US and some other countries have raised concerns about the way the mission of the WHO experts was carried out in China, including in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, and the lack of adequate cooperation from Beijing. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has also agreed that further studies were needed into the virus' origins.