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The head of the World Health Organisation said investigations into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic in China were being hampered by the lack of raw data on the first days of its spread in Wuhan.</p>
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&quot;We ask China to be transparent and open and to cooperate,&quot; Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference in Geneva on Thursday.</p>
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&quot;We owe it to the millions who suffered and the millions who died to know what happened,&quot; he said.</p>
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German Health Minister Jens Spahn also called on China to make it possible for investigations into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic to continue, saying more information was needed, according to a Reuters report.</p>
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<strong>Also read:</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/health-news/china-refused-to-share-raw-data-on-early-covid-cases-with-who-team-66526.html">China refused to share raw data on early Covid cases with WHO team</a></p>
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Speaking during a visit to the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva on Thursday, Spahn said,&quot;I call on China to make it possible for the investigations into the origins of COVID to be continued.</p>
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Dr. Tedros had also said on Saturday after the G 7 leaders meeting that preparations for the probe&rsquo;s next steps were under way and that the issue of the origin of the virus was discussed at the G-7 meet which he attended via video conference, according to a report in the<em> Wall Street Journal</em>.</p>
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An initial WHO probe into the origins of the coronavirus, which concluded that a lab leak in China was unlikely, was criticized by several governments.</p>
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<strong>Also read:</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/world-news/us-asks-china-to-come-clean-on-covid-data-from-wuhan-66745.html">US asks China to come clean on Covid-19 data from Wuhan</a></p>
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&ldquo;As you know we will need cooperation from the Chinese side,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We need transparency to understand or know or find the origin of this virus&hellip;after the report was released there were difficulties in the data sharing, especially in the raw data.&rdquo;</p>
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President Biden has ordered a fresh U.S. intelligence inquiry into the origins of the pandemic. U.S. intelligence has focused on two scenarios&mdash;whether the pandemic started as a result of human contact with infected animals, or in a laboratory accident. U.S. intelligence agencies are divided on whether there is insufficient evidence currently to prove either one. Several Western leaders have supported a fresh WHO investigation that explores all possible hypotheses.</p>
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Last week, the US and the UK had extended support to a &quot;timely, transparent and evidence-based independent process&quot; for the next phase of the WHO-convened study of COVID-19 origins.</p>
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&quot;We will also support a timely, transparent and evidence-based independent process for the next phase of the WHO-convened COVID-19 origins study, including in China, and for investigating outbreaks of unknown origin in the future,&quot; a joint statement said after US President Joe Biden met British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday.</p>
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