Thread by @Ayjchan

On the earliest covid cases, WHO is correcting virus sequence IDs & clarifying the 1st cluster was not linked to Huanan Seafood Market, but did not explain why the 1st patient who lived in Wuchang (near WIV) was mapped elsewhere in the WHO-China report.
washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pac…

This report suggests to me that the @washingtonpost has a better handle on highly important details of the early covid cases in Wuhan than the @WHO

Can we please have a different organization convene and lead an international investigation into the #OriginsOfCovid ?

We can't have any more unintended editing errors muddling the sequences, locations, and exposure factors of the earliest Covid-19 cases.

This is not conducive to understanding when the virus first emerged and what potential sources might have been.

"“Even as few as 13 new sequences, which if you think about it, is a tiny amount, can fairly substantially modify the understanding of the pandemic origin,” Pond said."
washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pac…

I've been saying since April that the China-WHO report needs some form of peer review. There could be more editing errors that need to be identified and corrected.

https://twitter.com/Ayjchan/status/1383884435385290769

It's very problematic because "data" from the China-WHO report is being cited & incorporated into new analyses. For example, a recent critical review extracted dots from the China-WHO report maps of early cases, using Adobe Illustrator, to make a figure in their own manuscript.

If these maps have editing errors, it would compromise analyses and manuscripts built on these unintended mistakes.

I attempted to reproduce the figure by using Adobe Illustrator and noticed that the resolution of the mapped "data" in the China-WHO report annexes looks like this:
*note that the first covid case is mapped on the wrong side of the river*

Tracking the #OriginsOfCovid should not rely on the powers of the pathfinder tool in Adobe Illustrator applied to highly pixelated diagrams.

I know that these maps are plotted by home address, but you can jitter the coordinates slightly and share that plot data publicly without compromising anyone's location or identity.

Taking this opportunity to give a shoutout to the reporters at the @washingtonpost and @WSJ who have been persistently covering and investigating, digging up new important information about the #OriginsOfCovid for the past year.

@washingtonpost @WSJ And another one from @washingtonpost today! h/t @TheSeeker268

"In a rare departure from his usual deference to powerful member countries, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said getting access to raw data had been a challenge..."
washingtonpost.com/health/who-chi…