Channel NewsAsia:

Referring to a recent editorial by the WHO, a question: why data and viral samples that were collected in Wuhan in January 2020 were not shared immediately but waited until more than three years later, now, to be made public. Also, calling the lack of data disclosure "simply inexcusable?" So what's the reason for China not releasing this data earlier, and what's your response to this? Thank you.

Shen Hongbing:

Thank you very much for your questions; I will take them. As Ms. Zhou mentioned just now, WHO-China Joint Mission conducted joint origins tracing from January to February 2021, including research on the Huanan Seafood Market. Its epidemiologists visited the market and, based on the metagenomic sequencing results of over 70 PCR-positive environmental samples, provided suggestions for the following phase. Consequently, China CDC scientists conducted a series of follow-up studies based on the suggestions specified in the WHO report on origins tracing. Subsequent analysis revealed that DNA barcodes in environmental samples from the Huanan Seafood Market offer no new clues to SARS-CoV-2 origins. In February 2022, China CDC experts compiled data and DNA barcodes from the market into a scientific paper, submitted it to Nature for peer review, made it public through a preprint platform, and uploaded the original data to GISAID following international practices. The relevant data has now been released simultaneously in four databases, both in China and abroad, and the paper has been officially published in Nature. It is worth noting that it took some time to conduct the studies. Chinese scientists conducted further relevant analysis according to the WHO's suggestions on follow-up studies, and it took some effort to submit the paper. Now the preprint is public, and the data will follow, so there is no deliberate delay in data release. 

After the first phase joint study report was released, Chinese scientists conducted extensive SARS-CoV-2 origins tracing, and their research findings were promptly published. For example, a study, published in Protein & Cell, reports that serological tests of blood donors in Wuhan during the second half of 2019 revealed no COVID-19 infections. A study on the virus spectrum of over 17,000 bats in China, published in National Science Review, finds no sequences related to SARS-CoV-2 or related coronaviruses. We have shared our research findings and data with our international peers. Thank you.