WHO eyes China lab audits

The World Health Organization said on Friday that the second stage of an investigation into the origins of Covid-19 should include further studies in China and lab audits. 

In a closed-door briefing to member states, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus proposed five priorities for the next phase of the investigation.

They included "audits of relevant laboratories and research institutions operating in the area of the initial human cases identified in December 2019", according to a copy of his opening statement. He also suggested investigators should focus on "studies prioritising geographic areas with the earliest indication of circulation of SARS CoV-2", the virus that causes Covid-19.

WHO has been under intensifying pressure from the West for a new, more in-depth investigation of how the disease that has killed over four million people around the world first emerged.