<Anchor>
Amid suspicions that Corona 19 had begun in Wuhan, China, a WHO investigation team that traced the origin of the corona in Wuhan, China earlier this year, urged a second-stage investigation to begin before the evidence disappears.
Reporter Kim A-young reports.
<Reporter> In
a podcast, renowned Dutch virologist Marion Coffmans appealed to WHO member states to support Phase 2 investigations to find the origins of Corona 19, saying in a podcast that "we are in danger of missing out on a must-do opportunity."
Danish epidemiologist Thea Fischer was also concerned that "it's all stopped now," and "it doesn't seem like much time."
Blood samples stored in Wuhan and other Chinese blood banks should be tested for antibodies, but the Chinese blood samples will be discarded after two years, Fisher said.
However, the WHO field investigation team insisted that the second-stage investigation should be continued, apart from the laboratory leak.
US President Joe Biden has instructed intelligence authorities to re-investigate the alleged leak in China's Wuhan laboratory within 90 days.
[Biden/US President: (Will you release the report after 90 days?) Yes. Unless there's something I don't know... .] The
Chinese government has argued that it has already been scientifically concluded, and is protesting that the US reexamination is just an old conspiracy theory.
A number of WHO member states have agreed to a Phase 2 investigation into the origins of COVID-19, but a decision has yet to be made at the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the WHO's highest decision-making body.