WHO reveals new Covid origins team as China analyses blood banks

WHO reveals new Covid origins team as China analyses blood banks

A new team of experts, including a Chinese scientist from the Beijing Institute of Genomics, has been appointed by the World Health Organization today to pin down the origins of Sars-Cov-2 and a future “Disease X”. The Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (Sago) is made up of 26 closely vetted international experts including biosecurity and lab safety specialists from universities and research institutes from around the world. The list includes Dr Yungui Yang the deputy director at the Beijing Institute of Genomics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in China; Dr John Watson, England's former deputy chief medical officer; and Dr Stuart Blacksell, a professor of tropical microbiology at the University of Oxford. More than 700 scientists applied to join the panel which is charged, not only with tracking down the origin of Sars-Cov-2, but advising on the prevention of future pandemics - whether they be natural or man-made. There will be a two week "consultation period" in which WHO members can challenge individual appointments. The group's first task will be to try and get the WHO’s original investigation into the Wuhan outbreak back on track after the original team became bogged down in international politics