(MENAFN) The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that new genetics data on the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic is "another piece of the jigsaw" as debates continue over a lab leak theory. Analysis of genetic sequences collected from a market in Wuhan, China — where it is widely believed Covid-19 made the leap to infect humans in late 2019 — suggests that raccoon dogs could have been carrying the new virus at the time. The data was collected by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in early 2020, but the evidence didn't appear on a global genomic database until March 2022.
The WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has called for every piece of data relating to studying the origins of Covid-19 to be shared with the international community immediately, requesting China to share more information. He said, "These data could have — and should have — been shared three years ago." The WHO's Mike Ryan also commented that the new genetics data is "another piece of the jigsaw".
The analysis, first reported by US news magazine The Atlantic, has been hailed as some of the strongest support for evidence that the virus was spread naturally from animals to humans. However, the lab leak theory continues to be debated. The release of the new genetics data highlights the need for continued research and transparency in understanding the origins of the pandemic.
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