Covid’s true origin must be investigated

The emergence of a mystery respiratory illness affecting children in northern China has echoes of the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020. Hospitals in the region are reportedly overcrowded with sick youngsters, but the authorities are adamant that there is nothing to worry about since it is not a novel virus. 

Although the pathogen was initially unidentified and similar to pneumonia, it is now said to be an influenza virus. A mild case of H1N2 “swine flu” was reported yesterday in north Yorkshire though there is no sign yet of a connection. 

The problem is that China was so opaque in its early reporting of Covid that we do not know to this day how and where the virus emerged. Early assertions that it was present in a “wet market” in Wuhan and spread from there were countered by the presence of a virus research facility in the same city. Suggestions that it may have leaked from this laboratory were dismissed as conspiracy theories and yet some scientists believe this may well have been the source, though no proof has been found. 

Furthermore, the World Health Organisation, which is supposed to monitor these outbreaks, was less than robust in holding China to account, to put it mildly. The WHO has now urged China to impose social distancing and “appropriate” mask wearing while it seeks updates and more information. But does anyone trust the Chinese state to provide them? 

After all, the doctor who first identified Covid and sought to alert the world was targeted by the police before he succumbed to the disease himself. Now it is being said that the latest outbreak is the result of lowered immunity after China ended its lengthy and regularly reimposed lockdowns. The fact that it appears to be most virulent among children, unlike Covid, is a particular worry. 

In view of what happened last time, the world’s health services need to be on alert to its possible spread beyond China. Have we learnt any lessons from how Covid was dealt with in 2020? Should, for instance, flights from China be restricted? 

There is a Covid inquiry going on that is tasked with ensuring we are better prepared, and yet it is not asking questions about the origin of the virus nor does it appear very interested in mitigations short of lockdowns. The purpose of the exercise seems to be to blame Boris Johnson for a failure of leadership. By the time it reports several years from now, we may already have been through another pandemic.