China News Service, Beijing, March 15. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a briefing for European diplomatic envoys in China on the 12th on the joint scientific research on the traceability of the novel coronavirus between China and the World Health Organization. The briefing was hosted by Yang Tao, Director of the International Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Professor Liang Wannian, the Chinese leader of the China-WHO Covid-19 Joint Expert Group on Traceability Research, introduced the situation and answered questions.
More than 40 envoys and diplomats from 29 European countries and the European Union attended the briefing.
Liang Wannian introduced in detail the background, basic process, main findings and next research recommendations of the joint research between China and WHO. He said that after the 73rd World Health Assembly passed relevant resolutions, China has overcome the pressure of domestic epidemic prevention work and took the lead in the same world. The WHO conducts joint traceability research.
In July 2020, China invited WHO experts to come to China, and the two sides jointly agreed on a protocol for part of the task of global traceability research in China.
According to the mission protocol, China and WHO’s international experts formed a joint expert group to conduct a 28-day joint study in Wuhan from January 14 to February 10 this year.
During their stay in Wuhan, in accordance with the authorization of the mission protocol, experts from both parties inspected 9 units including Jinyintan Hospital, South China Seafood Market, and Wuhan Virus Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with medical staff, laboratory staff, scientific research staff, market management staff, merchants, Community workers, recovered patients, and family members of sacrificing medical staff conducted a series of visits and discussions, and held a large number of meetings for consultation and discussion, and continued to build scientific consensus on the issue of traceability.
Experts from both sides have established a good working relationship through in-depth and candid exchanges.
Liang Wannian said that with the joint efforts of both parties, the joint research has achieved positive results and formed the main findings and conclusions: First, the joint expert group found a coronavirus in bats and pangolins that has a high degree of similarity with the new coronavirus gene sequence, but it is still insufficient. In order to prove that it is the direct ancestor of the new coronavirus, other species may also be potential natural hosts.
Second, the earliest onset of the first case in Wuhan was December 8, 2019.
The South China Seafood Market may be an outbreak point of the virus and an amplifier of the new crown epidemic.
Third, environmental sampling after the closure of the South China Seafood Market showed that the environment was generally contaminated by the new crown virus. Among them, the aquatic product stalls were particularly obvious, suggesting that the market has introduced viruses through infected persons, contaminated cold chain products, animals and animal products. may.
After scientific evaluation, the joint expert group believes that the new coronavirus is "very likely" to be transmitted through an intermediate host, "possibly" to be transmitted directly or through cold chain food, and "very unlikely" to be transmitted through laboratories.
Liang Wannian pointed out that the joint expert group made four recommendations for the next step of the study. The first is to expand the globally unified database to include relevant data on molecules, gene sequences, clinical, epidemiology, animal monitoring, and environmental monitoring. The second is to continue to look for possible early cases in a wider range of the world. The third is that scientists around the world are searching for animal species that may become the host of the virus in many countries and places, not limited to bats. The fourth is to further understand the role of cold chain and frozen food in the spread of the virus. (Finish)