WHO Still Working to Identify the Origins of COVID-19

A medical worker in protective gear waits to administer COVID-19 tests for reporters who was signed up to cover the press conference and the opening of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), at a quarantine hotel in Beijing, Thursday, March 2, 2023.(AP)
A medical worker in protective gear waits to administer COVID-19 tests for reporters who was signed up to cover the press conference and the opening of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), at a quarantine hotel in Beijing, Thursday, March 2, 2023.(AP)
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WHO Still Working to Identify the Origins of COVID-19

A medical worker in protective gear waits to administer COVID-19 tests for reporters who was signed up to cover the press conference and the opening of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), at a quarantine hotel in Beijing, Thursday, March 2, 2023.(AP)
A medical worker in protective gear waits to administer COVID-19 tests for reporters who was signed up to cover the press conference and the opening of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), at a quarantine hotel in Beijing, Thursday, March 2, 2023.(AP)

The World Health Organization (WHO) is still working to identify the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, its director general said on Friday, after a US agency was reported to have assessed the pandemic had likely been caused by a Chinese laboratory leak.

"I have written to and spoken with high-level Chinese leaders on multiple occasions as recently as just a few weeks ago... all hypotheses on the origins of the virus remain on the table," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the US Energy Department had concluded the pandemic likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak, an assessment Beijing denies.

"I wish to be very clear that WHO has not abandoned any plans to identify the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic," Tedros said.

The US Energy Department made its judgment with "low confidence" in a classified intelligence report recently provided to the White House and key members of Congress, the Journal said, citing people who had read the intelligence report.

Four other US agencies, along with a national intelligence panel, still think COVID-19 was likely the result of natural transmission, while two are undecided, the Journal reported.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead on COVID-19, expressed frustration on Twitter on Thursday that the United States had not shared additional information with the WHO on its reports assessing the origin of the virus.

On Friday, she urged countries, institutions and research groups that might have any information on the origins of the pandemic to share it with the international community.

"We don't completely have the answers to how this pandemic began and it remains absolutely critical that we continue to focus on this," she said.

She said it was crucial to study coronaviruses circulating in animals and how people come into contact with those animals.

"Our work continues on this space: looking at studies in humans, looking at studies in animals, looking at studies at the animal human interface, and also looking at potential breaches in biosafety and biosecurity for any of the labs that were working with coronaviruses, particularly where the first cases were detected in Wuhan, China, or elsewhere," she said.



Volcano Begins Erupting in Southwestern Iceland

File Photo: The Klyuchevskoy volcano, one of the highest active volcanoes in the world, erupts in Russia's northern Kamchatka Peninsula, Russian Far Eat, on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Yuri Demyanchuk)
File Photo: The Klyuchevskoy volcano, one of the highest active volcanoes in the world, erupts in Russia's northern Kamchatka Peninsula, Russian Far Eat, on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Yuri Demyanchuk)
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Volcano Begins Erupting in Southwestern Iceland

File Photo: The Klyuchevskoy volcano, one of the highest active volcanoes in the world, erupts in Russia's northern Kamchatka Peninsula, Russian Far Eat, on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Yuri Demyanchuk)
File Photo: The Klyuchevskoy volcano, one of the highest active volcanoes in the world, erupts in Russia's northern Kamchatka Peninsula, Russian Far Eat, on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Yuri Demyanchuk)

A volcano began erupting in southwestern Iceland on Tuesday, just hours after authorities evacuated a nearby community and the Blue Lagoon spa.

Flames and smoke shot through the air as the volcanic fissure opened near the town of Grindavik, where some 40 homes have been evacuated, national broadcaster RUV reported. The community, located on the Reykjanes Peninsula, was largely evacuated a year ago when the volcano came to life after lying dormant for 800 years, The AP news reported.

Webcams showed molten rock spewing out toward the community.

“The fissure is now about 500 meters (yards) long and has reached through the protective barrier north of Grindavík,'' Iceland's Met Office said in a statement. ”The fissure continues to grow, and it cannot be ruled out that it may continue to open further south.''

The magma flow began at about 6:30 a.m. local time (0630 GMT) accompanied by an intense earthquake storm similar to previous eruptions, the Icelandic Met Office said.