Investigating COVID-19: Congress, World Health Organization call to declassify Wuhan information

Mar. 20—The origins of COVID-19 remain a subject of scientific and political debate more than three years after its outbreak.

Some say the virus most likely transmitted from animal to human in a phenomenon known as zoonotic spillover. Others, including the Department of Energy, say with "low confidence" that it was an accidental laboratory leak as Wuhan is home to several labs involved in collecting and studying strands of coronaviruses.

Adding to the debate, on Friday, the World Health Organization said it was made aware of new data associated with samples collected in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan from January 2020. Analyses of these data suggest some samples being sold from the market contained DNA from animals susceptible to the virus, including wild raccoon dogs.

"These results provide potential leads to identifying immediate hosts ... and potential sources of human infections in the market," WHO said in a statement.

The new findings have not yet been peer-reviewed.

WHO called on China to release data linking the animal to the market. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the data could have and should have been shared three years ago.

Domestically, the House of Representatives unanimously passed the COVID-19 Origins Act to have Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence, declassify and send Congress a report about information concerning possible links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and coronavirus.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-OK, said the legislation would help the United States better prepare for future pandemics.

"Questioning if COVID-19 originated from a laboratory leak is neither a stretch of logic nor a conspiracy theory," Cole said in a statement. "In fact, even the Department of Energy and the FBI have assessed this is the likely scenario. If the global spread of COVID-19 came from the malpractices of the Chinese Communist Party, then the American people and the entire world deserve to know."

The Senate unanimously passed the bill, sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-MO, the week before. It is now under review at President Joe Biden's desk.

"I haven't made a decision yet," Biden said when asked if he would sign the bill.

Rep. Kevin Hern, R-OK, called on the president to sign the bill as "a great show of bipartisanship to provide transparency for all Americans."

If he does sign the bill, the information would be declassified no later than 90 days after. The Act would also declassify activities performed by the Wuhan Institute of Virology with or on behalf of the People's Liberation Army, coronavirus research prior to the pandemic's outbreak and information on the researchers in Wuhan who fell ill in autumn 2019.