The Danish scientist Peter Embarek led the World Health Organization (WHO) delegation to Wuhan in January. If a WHO researcher knows about Wuhan, the coronavirus and China, it is WHO head of delegation Embarek. Half a year after the study trip, which was systematically hampered by China, which was supposed to research the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic, the WHO chief investigator is making the big U-turn. The WHO has so far been covered in the theory that the virus could have come from the Wuhan laboratory, Embarek is now unpacking.
“Patient Zero”, the first person to be infected with Covid-19 and thus to set off the global lung disease, could have been a researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. This is what Embarek says in a documentary on the Danish TV channel TV2. A laboratory employee who “became infected while taking samples now falls under the credible hypotheses” of being the first Covid patient ever.
But Embarek is not only critical of the Chinese cover-up attempts. He also points his finger at his own ranks and accounts with the WHO final report on the expert mission in Wuhan published in March. His suggestive reproach: “Maybe there is no one at all who wants to know the truth.”
Harmless laboratory sightseeing
Embarek’s words no longer correspond to the official WHO version, according to which it is “extremely unlikely” that the virus escaped from the Wuhan laboratory in late 2019. Embarek still does not believe that the virus was deliberately bred in experiments. But he thinks it is very possible that a researcher in the laboratory could become infected with a bat.
China, Embarek said, had put enormous pressure on his team and systematically hindered WHO work. First the research trip had to be postponed for some inexplicable reason, then Beijing refused entry papers to two scientists from the international research team of ten while they were already on the plane.
Embarek spent the 14 days in quarantine in advance to secure access to the Wuhan laboratory for his team. This was finally granted – but there wasn’t much more to see than the entrance hall. The inside of the laboratory could only be viewed through glass windows. The WHO was given neither access to data nor to blood samples stored in hospitals. Also zero access to laboratory documents. The Chinese made sure: The laboratory research aimed at by the WHO became harmless laboratory sightseeing.
Laboratory accident thesis fired: Three researchers in Wuhan fell ill before the outbreak of the pandemic(01:04)
China’s “first” Covid patient
There are several research laboratories in Wuhan, explains Embarek. The delegation was also able to visit a second from the health authority (CDC) not far from the fresh market, again under strict supervision. The laboratory only moved there in December 2019. When moving the virus samples, there could have been security deficiencies, admits Embarek. Further research and insights into laboratory books would be necessary – which China does not allow.
Yes, the WHO researchers were presented with the alleged “patient zero”: a “completely normal office worker”, says Embarek, who had never been to the fresh market in question, where the first cases pointed. The man in his forties had a “very boring life” and “surfed the Internet day in and day out”. Embarek: “I can’t imagine that he was really the first corona patient.”
The man was officially China’s first corona patient on December 8, 2019. However, there is now sufficient evidence that the virus was present in the country and around the world months earlier. According to a US report, the pathogen should have escaped from the laboratory in August.
Four possible theses on the origin of the virus
Embarek, the WHO and Chinese colleagues seem to agree that the virus originates from horseshoe bats. However, they do not live in the Wuhan area. According to the WHO, there are therefore four theses: Either a traveler got infected and brought the infection to Wuhan. Or the bats came frozen at the Wuhan fresh market. Third thesis: An animal was infected by a bat and then came to Wuhan. Or there was a laboratory accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where bat coronaviruses are also stored and researched.
According to Embarek, the top of the WHO also hesitated to list the laboratory theory in the final report. 48 hours before the report was published, any mention of a connection between the origin of the virus and the laboratory had been vehemently rejected. Ultimately, the Chinese would have prevailed. The report spoke only vaguely of the laboratory theory. China, according to Embarek, made it “a condition” “that we do not recommend any specific studies to advance the hypothesis”.
WHO calls on China to disclose data on the first corona infections
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on China to disclose raw data on the first corona cases. Access to this information is of “crucial importance” for further investigations into the origin of the pandemic, the WHO said on Thursday. This is also important to test the theory of a laboratory accident.
In order to advance the investigations into the origin of the corona, all countries are called upon to enable the sharing of raw data and the re-examination of samples, emphasized the WHO.
Soon after the pandemic began, there was speculation that the virus could have escaped in an accident from the Institute of Virology in Wuhan, which is researching coronaviruses. The Chinese government vigorously denies this.
For him, the laboratory theory is one of the “probable hypotheses,” said the Danish scientist Peter Ben Embarek, who had headed the WHO mission in Wuhan, on Danish television on Thursday. He thinks it is possible that a laboratory employee was infected while taking a sample and that the virus was transmitted from bats to humans. (AFP)
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on China to disclose raw data on the first corona cases. Access to this information is of “crucial importance” for further investigations into the origin of the pandemic, the WHO said on Thursday. This is also important to test the theory of a laboratory accident.
In order to advance the investigations into the origin of the corona, all countries are called upon to enable the sharing of raw data and the re-examination of samples, emphasized the WHO.
Soon after the pandemic began, there was speculation that the virus could have escaped in an accident from the Institute of Virology in Wuhan, which is researching coronaviruses. The Chinese government vigorously denies this.
For him, the laboratory theory is one of the “probable hypotheses,” said the Danish scientist Peter Ben Embarek, who had headed the WHO mission in Wuhan, on Danish television on Thursday. He thinks it is possible that a laboratory employee was infected while taking a sample and that the virus was transmitted from bats to humans. (AFP)
According to Embarek, the Chinese government could have done this to control the report – or because they have something to hide. For Embarek, the “way the government behaved” was a reason to “investigate laboratory theory further”.
Embarek expresses fifth, “most likely hypothesis”
Embarek expresses a fifth, which, in his opinion, is the “most likely hypothesis”: A researcher in a laboratory was infected while working in the field. When catching bats, “a virus could spread directly to humans. Then we would have a laboratory employee as the first patient and not some random person. “
In July, the WHO proposed a new Wuhan investigation. This time with experts who not only investigate scientifically, but are also allowed to investigate. China weighs it down. Vice Minister of Health Zeng Yixin said he was “extremely surprised” that the international community is calling for further examinations in China. Zeng accused the WHO of “disregarding common sense and arrogance towards science”.