Alina Chan Profile picture
30 Mar, 13 tweets, 5 min read
Statement by the Governments of Australia, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America on #OriginsofCOVID 🇦🇺🇨🇦🇨🇿🇩🇰🇪🇪🇮🇱🇯🇵🇱🇻🇱🇹🇳🇴🇰🇷🇸🇮🇬🇧🇺🇸
state.gov/joint-statemen…
“Asked by about the (China-WHO) report, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said Tuesday it lacked crucial data, and represents a “partial and incomplete picture.””

🌋 article by @emilyrauhala

washingtonpost.com/world/who-wuha…
“Secretary of State Antony Blinken, expressed concern about content and framing of the report, saying Beijing “helped to write it.””
“Tedros, who has largely steered clear of calling out China, said Tuesday that team members raised concerns to him about access to raw epidemiological data needed for the report.”
““Although the team has concluded that a laboratory leak is the least likely hypothesis, this requires further investigation,” he continued, “potentially with additional missions involving specialist experts, which I am ready to deploy.””
Governments of 14 countries:
“we voice our shared concerns that the international expert study on the source of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was significantly delayed and lacked access to complete, original data and samples.”
“It is critical for independent experts to have full access to all pertinent human, animal, and environmental data, research, and personnel involved in the early stages of the outbreak”

It is still possible to properly investigate the #OriginsofCOVID

Launch a new investigation!
I’m going to dive into the hundreds of pages of the China-WHO report before I can make informed comments on it at a later date.

But I hope the people in charge don’t waste any more time. Please set up a real investigation ASAP. There’s a lot to look into that’s outside of China.
Oh, statement by the EU is up: eeas.europa.eu/delegations/un…

Thanks @radical_libere
I think these statements require an anger translator:

"We remain fully committed to.. ways to enhance the organization of field missions.. ensure the rapid start of origins’ studies, timely deployment of field missions, independence of the work of the experts and transparency.."
"we express our support for a science-based, transparent and independent WHO-convened Global Study of the Origins of SARS-CoV-2, where timely access to data and field missions play a critical role."
"While regretting the late start of the study, the delayed deployment of the experts and the limited availability of early samples and related data.."

".. will require further and timely access to all relevant locations and to all relevant human, animal and environmental data"
"Every lack or delay in sharing public health information can have worldwide adverse impact and we call on all Member States to continue sharing public health information with WHO as soon as it is available.."

"require full and transparent cooperation by all WHO Member States"

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More from @Ayjchan

30 Mar
The @WHO clarified today that the China-WHO origins of covid-19 team did not extensively assess the lab leak hypothesis.

And that WHO is ready to deploy future missions involving specialist experts to investigate a lab leak.

who.int/director-gener…
By some error, the annexes to the full report by the China-WHO origins joint study team are still missing. This made it impossible for the press to ask questions about some potentially critical information stuck in the supplementary document (~200 pages).

who.int/health-topics/…
What might be stashed away in these annexes?

First of all, the team membership.

We still do not know who the 17 Chinese national members on the China-WHO team are.

That's ~50% of the team whose names and affiliations we still don't know, months after the study was set up.
Read 9 tweets
27 Mar
“If SARS-CoV-2 came from a lab, the result would likely be a global crackdown on all high-risk biosafety labs, says Chan.”
qz.com/1986084/why-do…
Journalists need to do due diligence. When you interview a scientist, have you checked whether they could stand to lose $millions, possibly even the ability to retain employees if it were determined that COVID-19 emerged due to research activities?
There's a common perception that scientists are somehow anointed saints and have no conflicts of interest that could lead them to temptation.

Getting your PhD doesn't free you from the temptations of mankind.
Read 7 tweets
24 Mar
Please no one ever ask me again why it's important to find the origins of a pandemic...

"... governments and scientists agree that deciphering the creation story is key to reducing the risk of future pandemics."

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Unfortunately, the author @jwgale goes straight to HIV from the 1920s...

How many people do you know who were alive in the 1920s?
We cannot keep talking about how things were done literally 100 years ago.
Read 22 tweets
23 Mar
I have a hunch that the lab leak hypothesis is going to really go mainstream this week.

So I hope that science communicators will take it up on themselves to help the public process this information in a rational and non-alarmist way.
I’m hoping that most of the discussion going forward will be about how we can mitigate the risk of lab pathogen pandemics and quickly trace the origins of future outbreaks.

As opposed to “look at all the racists and conspiracists who said covid-19 came from a lab.”
If scientists & science communicators don’t fulfil this essential role of explaining how pandemics can emerge from various types of research activities, it’s a guarantee that less informed people will.

You can’t not do the work and then complain less qualified people did it.
Read 6 tweets
22 Mar
I kind of expected this day to come, but still surprised that it actually arrived.

I'm going to do a quick FAQ🧵 for the public (both scientists & non-scientists) who are just hearing about the possibility of COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 having emerged from lab or research activities.
Is it racist to ask whether COVID-19 emerged from a lab or from the wildlife trade in China? No.

Have racist people asked the question above? Yes.
More importantly, will people call you a racist if you ask whether COVID-19 emerged from a lab or from the wildlife trade in China?

Unfortunately, yes, it is quite likely they will call you a racist and more.

And yes, even if you're Asian, you could be called a race traitor.
Read 12 tweets

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