The World Health Organization (WHO) chief said on Thursday that there was a \u201cpremature push\u201d to rule out the COVID-19 lab leak theory without enough evidence.<\/p>\n
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged to reporters during a briefing that the theory that COVID-19 originated from a lab is possible, in remarks that strayed from the WHO\u2019s controversial report designating the hypothesis as \u201cextremely unlikely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tedros cited his experience as a lab technician and immunologist, saying that \u201clab accidents happen\u201d and \u201cit\u2019s common,\u201d so \u201cchecking what happened, especially in our labs,\u201d is important to deducing what sparked the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we get full information, we can exclude that,\u201d he said, referring to the theory.<\/p>\n
Focus on China:\u00a0<\/strong>He called for China and other member states to be transparent and cooperate with scientists and officials trying to determine how the pandemic started, including through providing raw data.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope there will be better cooperation and we have the continued engagement with China and also with member states, and there will be better cooperation to getting to the bottom of what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n