WHO: Coronavirus, nagmula sa mga hayop, hindi sa laboratoryo

Si Fadela Chaib, Tagapagsalita ng WHO

Ipinahayag kahapon, Martes, ika-21 ng Abril 2020, ni Tagapagsalita Fadela Chaib ng World Health Organization (WHO), na batay sa kasalukuyang mga ebidensya, ang coronavirus ay nagmula sa mga hayop, at hindi nilikha sa laboratoryo.

Sinabi rin ni Chaib, na nilalabanan ngayon ng WHO ang kapwa pandemiya at mga kasinungalingan at teorya ng pagsasabwatan tungkol sa pinanggalingan ng coronavirus.

Salin: Liu Kai

Ulat mula sa CGTN:

"All available evidence suggests the virus has an animal origin and is not manipulated or constructed in a lab or somewhere else," WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told a Geneva news briefing Tuesday.

Fadela Chaib refuted recent comments that the virus emanated from a lab in Wuhan, central China, saying the available evidence showed that the virus was not manipulated by humans in a lab or somewhere else.

Chaib underlined that the WHO is combating two pandemics. "We have the pandemic with the virus, but we are also combating 'infodemic'. And when you have a new virus, like this one, it is to be expected that a lot of spurious theories about the origin of the virus be relayed."

It was not clear, Chaib added, how the virus had jumped the species barrier to humans but there had "certainly" been an intermediate animal host. "It most likely has its ecological reservoir in bats but how the virus came from bats to humans is still to be seen and discovered."

She pledged that the WHO welcomes all countries to support efforts to find the origin of the virus, noting that several working groups, including Chinese experts, are actively trying to find the origin of this virus.

Chaib, asked about the impact of Trump's decision last week to suspend funding to the UN agency over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, said: "We are still assessing the situation about the announcement by President Trump... and we will assess the situation and we will work with our partners to fill any gaps."