A look at the first publicly known search for the virus to the current moment where that search for the source has gone cold.

By Dake Kang and Maria Cheng | Published by Associated Press News

“It’s disturbing how quickly the search for the origins of (COVID-19) escalated into politics. Now this question may never be definitively answered.” ~ Mark Woolhouse, a University of Edinburgh outbreak expert.

Summary

BEIJING (AP) — The hunt for the origins of COVID-19 has gone dark in China, the victim of political infighting after a series of stalled and thwarted attempts to find the source of the virus that killed millions and paralyzed the world for months.

The Chinese government froze meaningful domestic and international efforts to trace the virus from the first weeks of the outbreak, despite statements supporting open scientific inquiry, an Associated Press investigation found. That pattern continues to this day, with labs closed, collaborations shattered, foreign scientists forced out and Chinese researchers barred from leaving the country.

A deliberate freeze on the search for the source of the coronavirus leaves the world vulnerable to another outbreak, the investigation warns. Even without complications, experts say identifying how outbreaks begin is incredibly challenging and that it’s rare to know with certainly how some viruses begin spreading.

At the heart of the question is whether the virus jumped from an animal or came from a laboratory accident. Debate on either theory does not exist in China and crucial initial efforts to investigate its origins were hampered by bureaucrats in the city of Wuhan, where the virus was first detected.

According to materials obtained by the Associated Press, bureaucrats trying to avoid blame misled the central government, which muzzled Chinese scientists and subjected visiting WHO officials to stage-managed tours; and the U.N. health agency itself, which may have compromised early opportunities to gather critical information in hopes that by placating China, scientists could gain more access.

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