News outlets report on a World Health Organization effort to “depoliticize” the investigation into the origin of covid–as a WHO expert admits to previous concerns about a Chinese laboratory. In other news, Sinopharm’s vaccine is 50.4% effective and Indonesia uses a ferry as a floating isolation center.
CIDRAP:
WHO Calls On Countries To Set Aside Differences In SARS-CoV-2 Origin Probe
The World Health Organization (WHO) today called on countries to depoliticize the investigation into the origin of SARS-CoV-2 and how it jumped to humans, pressing for more raw data to review and suggesting that more can be done within its current framework to track lab safety around the world, including China. (Schnirring, 8/12)
Fox News:
WHO Says COVID-19 Origin Needs More Studies As Top Expert’s Lab ‘Concern’ Made Public For First Time
The World Health Organization’s lead investigator into the coronavirus’ origins in China appears to have contradicted his February statement dismissing the Wuhan lab-leak theory – admitting that it was not “extremely unlikely” as the WHO said at the time, but “probable.” On Thursday, the WHO in a new statement admitted that the lab-leak was not “extremely unlikely” after all. (Ruiz, 8/12)
AP:
WHO Expert ‘Had Concerns’ About Lab Close To 1st COVID Cases
When a World Health Organization-led team traveled to China earlier this year to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, a top official said he was worried about safety standards at a laboratory close to the seafood market where the first human cases were detected, according to a documentary released Thursday by Danish television channel TV2.The Wuhan branch of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention was handling coronaviruses “without potentially having the same level of expertise or safety or who knows,” Peter Ben Embarek said during a conference call in January, according to footage shown by TV2. Ben Embarek is a WHO expert on disease transmission from animals to humans and one of the team’s leaders. (Cheng, 8/12)
In other global news about covid —
Reuters:
Peru Study Finds Sinopharm COVID Vaccine 50.4% Effective Against Infections
A two-dose COVID-19 vaccine from China’s Sinopharm was 50.4% effective in preventing infections in health workers in Peru when it was seeing a surge in cases fuelled by virus variants, and booster shots can be considered, a study found. The study involving Sinopharm’s BBIBP-CorV vaccine, which looked at data from February through June at a time when Peru was fighting a brutal second-wave of infections fuelled by the Lambda and Gamma variants of the coronavirus, was conducted on nearly 400,000 frontline health workers in live conditions. (Rochabrun and Liu, 8/13)
Reuters:
Indonesian Ferry Turns Floating Isolation Centre For COVID-19 Patients
A vehicle with a flashing siren and “Makassar COVID Hunter” written on the side pulls up to a ship docked at a jetty in the Indonesian port city of Makassar, and masked COVID-19 patients carrying bags board the boat. This ship, called the KM Umsini, used to ply a route ferrying up to 2,000 passengers between Indonesia’s island cities. Now, it has been turned into an isolation centre for COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms, amid the spread of the highly infectious Delta coronavirus variant. (Muchtar, 8/12)
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