GENEVA - The World Health Organization warned Friday that efforts to uncover the COVID-19 pandemic's origins were being hampered by politics, insisting scientists needed space to work on solving the mystery.
During an ongoing meeting of WHO member states, European Union countries and a range of others also pressed for clarity on the next steps in the organisation's efforts to solve the mystery, seen as vital to averting future pandemics.But the UN health agency said earlier Friday it was still waiting for recommendations from a team of WHO technical experts on how to move forward.
The WHO finally managed to send a team of independent, international experts to Wuhan in January, more than a year after COVID-19 first surfaced there in late 2019, to help probe the pandemic origins. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has also continued to insist that all theories remain on the table and further investigation is needed.
"Every country and every entity is free to pursue their own particular theories of origin... It's a free world," Ryan said.
What did they expect.