International Scientists Call for New Inquiry Into COVID-19 Origin

A group of internationally renowned scientists have issued another open letter calling for a new thorough inquiry into the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic

NTD Newsroom

Published: 7/1/2021, 9:25:28 AM EDT

International Scientists Call for New Inquiry Into COVID-19 Origin — A computer image created by Nexu Science Communication together with Trinity College in Dublin, shows a model structurally representative of a betacoronavirus, the type of virus linked to the Wuhan COVID-19 outbreak, shared with Reuters on Feb. 18, 2020. (NEXU Science Communication/via Reuters)

A group of internationally renowned scientists have issued another open letter calling for a new thorough inquiry into the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic by an international investigation team. The letter also provided solutions to the possible scenario that Chinese communist regime won’t cooperate with such investigation.

On June 28, the “Paris Group” published the open letter with major French media Le Figaro. The group consists of 31 leading scientists and doctors from countries around the world, including France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, New Zealand, India, Australia, the United States, Canada, and Japan.

The letter noted that COVID-19 has been raging around the world for more than a year but the origin of the virus has not been identified.

A report by the World Health Organization's (WHO) so-called expert team who visited Wuhan, China, a year after the outbreak—now shown to have included key members with a clear conflict of interest—was inconclusive and raised doubts globally, especially in Western countries.

The scientists added, “We believe that the joint study process that the WHO is currently calling for, in its current form, does not satisfy the conditions to be credible due to serious structural gaps.”

The letter addressed the Chinese regime’s attempt to erase related data, pointing out, “The measures taken by the Chinese government to hide the origins, and stop Chinese experts from sharing certain essential information and detailed data clearly show that the current process, without significant changes, has no chance of putting a complete or credible inquiry in place for all possible scenarios.”

The letter said that it is “particularly regrettable that no exhaustive inquiry on all the plausible origins has been undertaken, and that none is planned.”

“We ask for a new scientific enquiry into all the plausible origin hypothesis, which has unlimited access to all the pertinent files, samples and staff in China, and elsewhere if necessary,” the scientists urged in the letter.

The direction of the investigation should include the possibility of the virus leaking from the laboratory, the letter suggested.

Chinese virologist Dr. Zhengli Shi is seen inside the P4 laboratory, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, in Wuhan, capital of China's Hubei province, China, on Feb. 23, 2017. (Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images) — Chinese virologist Dr. Zhengli Shi is seen inside the P4 laboratory, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, in Wuhan, capital of China's Hubei province, China, on Feb. 23, 2017. Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images

In case the Chinese regime will not cooperate, the group suggested launching an international investigation mission without China’s participation, led by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) or the Group of Seven Industrial Countries (G7) or other institutions.

“A well-organised and concerted effort, free of interference, drawing on all available sources of information and involving a large number of experts, may well end up providing unambiguous evidence supporting one particular hypothesis regarding the origins of the pandemic,” the letter read.

The suggestion is based on the fact that sufficient data are available worldwide for such inquiry.

"A great number of very pertinent details can be collected without the participation of the Chinese authorities," the scientists said. "Many governmental and individual scientists across the world have already gathered, and started to analyse, significant quantities of pertinent data."

The letter further suggested that the inquiry would also need the cooperation of the United States and European Union in sharing documents and data.

The letter comes at the time when more evidence is emerging, with the international community now turning focus to the virology lab in Wuhan that has been conducting gain-of-function research on coronaviruses in cooperation with the Chinese regime’s military.

This is the fourth open letter this year calling for a new independent and thorough inquiry into the origin of COVID-19. The Paris Group issued another two earlier this year. In March, the first letter said that an inquiry into the role of major science journals in concealing information of the pandemic, such as The Lancet, is in order.

They issued a second open letter on April 7, condemning the WHO’s report. The letter received significant coverage in French newspapers.

From The Epoch Times