The WHO streetlight effect

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It looks like they've all drunk the Kool Aid, the World Health Organisation team that went to China to find out more about the origins of the coronavirus and came back parroting the China line.

The virus which causes Covid-19 might not have emerged in China, according to a top World Health Organisation (WHO) investigator.

It is possible the virus's leap from animals to humans could have happened outside the country,Prof John Watson said.

Prof Watson, formerly England's deputy chief medical officer, was part of the WHO team that travelled to China to investigate the origins of the pandemic.

He told BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show that the pandemic most likely started with an infection in an "animal reservoir" which was then passed on to humans through an "intermediate host".

Asked if he was sure the virus emerged in China, Prof Watson said "no".

He said: "I think that there are all sorts of reasons to do with the way it did start in the outbreak in Wuhan and the various bits of information about the way in which these viruses live in different animal reservoirs, that suggest that China is a very, very possible source for the outbreak, but by no means necessarily the place where the leap from animals to humans took place.

"And I think we need to ensure that we are looking beyond the borders of China, as well as within China."

The looking within China didn't go so well, after the Chinese refused to hand over vital information. In the case of a possible lab leak from the Wuhan Virology Institute, the extent of the team's investigation was to ask the lab people if they thought there'd been a leak and taking their word for it, on the grounds that they were the people in the best position to know.

Perhaps they'll have better luck outside China, where the authorities are likely to be more helpful.

Remember the streetlight effect? – it's not where the keys were lost, under the streetlight, but it's a lot easier to look there.

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