Eli Lake, Columnist

China’s Claims of Exoneration on Covid Ring Hollow

Even the head of the World Health Organization found its report on the pandemic’s origins insufficient.

April 2, 2021 at 10:00 AM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Is WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus satisfied with his own report?
Photographer: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP

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The World Health Organization’s report on the origins of Covid is a whitewash. Don’t take my word for it: Listen to what the WHO’s director-general had to say.

In his briefing to member states on Tuesday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the report’s study of the hypothesis that the Covid-19 virus initially leaked from a Chinese lab was insufficient. “I do not believe that this assessment was extensive enough,” he said. He added that future reports should include timelier and more comprehensive data sharing, a direct shot at the Chinese government. And he said he expected there would be another: “This report is a very important beginning, but it is not the end.”