Untersuchungsbericht der WHO, 30.3.2021 (engl. Originalfassung)
In May 2020, the World Health Assembly in resolution WHA73.1 requested the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) to continue to work closely with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and countries, as part of the One Health approach, to identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population, including the possible role of intermediate hosts. The aim is to prevent both reinfection with the virus in animals and humans and the establishment of new zoonotic reservoirs, thereby reducing further risks of the emergence and transmission of zoonotic diseases.
In July 2020, WHO and China began the groundwork for studies to better understand the origins of the virus. Terms of Reference (TORs) were agreed that defined a phased approach, and the scope of studies, the main guiding principles and expected deliverables. The TORs envisaged an initial Phase 1 of shortterm studies to better understand how the virus might have been introduced and started to circulate in
Wuhan, China.
WHO selected an international multidisciplinary team of experts to work closely with a multidisciplinary team of Chinese experts in the design, support and conduct of these studies and to conduct a follow-up visit to review progress and agree upon a series of further studies.
The joint international team comprised 17 Chinese and 17 international experts from other countries, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) (Annex B). The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) participated as an observer. Following initial online meetings, a joint study was conducted over a 28-day period from 14 January to 10 February 2021 in the city of Wuhan, People’s Republic of China.
The team agreed a workplan and established working groups to review the progress made in Phase 1 studies in the areas of: epidemiology; animals and the environment; and molecular epidemiology and bioinformatics. During the course of the discussions, the international experts gained deeper understanding of the methods used and data obtained. In response to requests during the visit, further data and analyses were generated, reflecting a productive iterative approach to refining the design and interpretation of complex studies in all areas.
In addition to group work, the team shared scientific and thematic presentations on relevant topics to help inform its work, undertook a series of site visits to important locations and conducted interviews with key informants.
The epidemiology working group closely examined the possibilities of identifying earlier cases of COVID-19 through studies from surveillance of morbidity due to respiratory diseases in and around Wuhan in late 2019. It also drew on national sentinel surveillance data; laboratory confirmations of disease; reports of retail pharmacy purchases for antipyretics, cold and cough medications; a convenience subset of stored samples of more than 4500 research project samples from the second half of 2019 stored at various hospitals in Wuhan, the rest of Hubei Province and other provinces. In none of these studies was there evidence of an impact of the causative agent of COVID-19 on morbidity in the months before the outbreak of COVID-19.
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