investigation into the origins of Covid-19. Twenty scientists from Europe, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, India and Japan published an open letter harshly criticising Beijing for preventing efforts to truly get to the bottom of how the pandemic began.
Entitled "Allowing a Comprehensive International Investigation of Pandemic Origins would be a True Expression of Olympic Values", the letter warns that failing to uncover the exact origins of the virus that causes Covid-19 puts the world at greater risk of future pandemics. "The ongoing efforts by China's government to block any meaningful investigation into pandemic origins...
have been an affront to the international scientific community and to people everywhere," the letter said. The scientists urged countries and people around the world to take advantage of the Olympic spotlight to highlight China's obstruction and demand it change course. "The noble aspiration" of the Olympics "is being undermined through the ongoing efforts of the host government to prevent a comprehensive international investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic," they wrote.
The scientists accused Beijing of "destroying biological samples, hiding records (and) imprisoning courageous Chinese citizen journalists". Protect whistleblowers They also decried "a series of gag orders preventing Chinese scientists from saying or writing anything about pandemic origins without prior government approval".