Let's not politicize hunt for virus origins

Some self-acclaimed "scientists" and "sociologists" have, in an open letter in the US media, attacked the World Health Organization's expert team that is jointly researching the origin of the novel coronavirus with Chinese experts. They even refused to recognize the team's findings.

The claims in the letter are baseless on several aspects. To begin with, it calls the research a "probe", which amounts to saying China has committed a crime. What the Chinese and WHO teams are conducting jointly is research, not a probe, and the Chinese experts have made major contributions to it.

The letter concludes that the novel coronavirus might not totally have come from nature, when for a whole year now, top scientists and disease control experts, including Anthony Fauci, director of the US' National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have trashed such claims.

According to a media release issued by the Chinese-WHO expert team on Feb 9, there is high possibility of the novel coronavirus having infected human beings through an intermediary host, but hardly any possibility of it having been developed in a lab. However, the open letter turns a blind eye to this fact. So much for scientific temper.

The letter even hints at political bias, saying half the members of the joint team were Chinese nationals, even though the team has been formed by the WHO and includes experts from more than 10 countries, the WHO, and the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. Their professionalism and neutrality are above suspicion.

The letter also said that the result of the research "lacks independence", although the experts themselves decided where to visit and whom to interview.

Previously, some Western media had claimed that the expert team could not get original data in Wuhan, a claim the team members rebutted. The open letter is as groundless as some Western media reports. It is important that the world takes the WHO-led research seriously, because by politicizing it, people can undermine the global fight against the virus.