Corona virus outbreak investigation:
China will test tens of thousands of blood samples at Wuhan blood bank as part of an investigation into the source of the Covid-19 outbreak, a source in China said.
The move comes amid calls from countries around the world for transparency regarding the emergence of the virus at the end of 2019.
Blood samples from the end of 2019 will be a key source of information for World Health Organization researchers, to determine the time and place where the virus first broke out in humans.
If the samples were stored properly they could contain crucial signs of the first antibodies created by humans against the virus.
A source from the National Health Commission of China told CNN that preparations for the test were in progress.
"The tests will contain vital clues," said Maureen Miller, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University.
Miller urged China to allow foreign experts to watch the process.
"No one will believe the results China is reporting if there are no qualified observers from around the world," she said.
Dr. William Schafner, of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University, added: "The samples may indicate who was first infected, where, their age and occupation."
Schafner suggested bringing the samples to Geneva or another neutral destination to allow World Health Organization experts to take part in the tests.
China: We operated in full transparency
Recall, at a press conference in July, the head of the Chinese team working on the World Organization investigation said that China would test the samples and added that China's experts would bring the results to teams in China and around the world.
"We carried out a number of assessments of the test methods and the action plan. The case of infection that was initially registered on December 8 is probably not the main case and there may be other cases that have occurred before."
The Biden administration has conducted an intelligence survey on the source of the virus but it is still unclear whether it has passed naturally from animals to humans or as laboratory leaks.
Upon receiving the review, President Joe Biden said: "Critical information on the subject exists in the People's Republic of China. From the beginning, Chinese government officials acted to prevent international investigators from accessing them."
At the same time China insisted on full transparency vis-à-vis the World Health Organization and after the publication of the theory that the virus leaked from a lab said the US lab should be examined in Maryland when an initial outbreak of the virus was recorded in the area following a visit by US military personnel to China.
