WHO Urges China To Share Raw Data On Early COVID-19 Cases

The World Health Organization stressed it was "vitally important" to uncover the origins of the worst pandemic in a century, which has killed at least 4.3 million people and battered the global economy

The WHO on Thursday urged China to share raw data from the earliest Covid-19 cases to revive the pandemic origins probe -- and release information to address the controversial lab leak theory. The World Health Organization stressed it was "vitally important" to uncover the origins of the worst pandemic in a century, which has killed at least 4.3 million people and battered the global economy since the virus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. In the face of pushback from Beijing, the UN health agency called for the provision of "all data and access required so that the next series of studies can be commenced as soon as possible". After much delay, a WHO team of international experts went to Wuhan in January 2021 to produce a first phase report, which was written in conjunction with their Chinese counterparts.