JAKE TAPPER: And our world lead, a vital remaining
clue into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
But we may never learn the truth about it.
I'm talking about blood samples, thousands of them,
thousands of them sitting in a Wuhan hospital in China.
After two years, the Chinese government is preparing
to test these samples.
But as it stands, the World Health Organization
and other foreign experts will not
be allowed to analyze the data independently,
meaning the Chinese government is
in charge of examining the results
and revealing their findings.
And as Nick Paton Walsh reports, the Chinese government
doesn't exactly have a track record of transparency.
- Ground zero for the illness sparking global unease.
- It is likely a brand new viral pneumonia.
NICK PATON WALSH: It is perhaps the last publicly known clue
to where coronavirus came from.
But will the world ever learn the truth of what it says?
Tens of thousands of tiny blood samples taken in Wuhan
in the last months of 2019 are still stored in a hospital
there.
- The samples from the blood bank absolutely
will contain vital clues.
- They could potentially be very revelatory.
- This is the closest to the world we've
seen of real time samples.
NICK PATON WALSH: The samples might reveal when and even
where antibodies against the virus
first appeared in humans in October or November
two years ago.
China says they had to be kept for legal reasons for two
years in case of lawsuits over the blood transfusions
they are from.
But now, that limit is almost up for the key months
at the end of 2019.
And a Chinese official confirmed to CNN
that China is preparing to test them,
echoing a promise from July when they said
they would share the results.
- [non-english speech]
NICK PATON WALSH: Related institutions
from the Chinese side, he says, also
express that once they have the results,
they will deliver them to both the Chinese and foreign expert
teams.
The samples come from the disposable tubes that
carried donor blood into the donor bag
and are something the WHO team said earlier this year
they wanted to examine.
- Team for the origins of the coronavirus.
NICK PATON WALSH: They could contain
vital detailed information.
- Might also help us to follow the trajectory of the spread
of the virus by tracking the individuals
who may carry the virus.
- And you would like to go back to find out exactly
during which month this virus started
to leave fingerprints in the human population in China.
- It is common practice to de-identify the samples.
So you could strip it down to basic demographics, age,
gender, neighborhood, where they lived.
All of those data will be available.
NICK PATON WALSH: But the same problem emerges again.
It will be China and China alone doing the testing
and reporting their results.
The US's recent report into the origins of the coronavirus
and statements from allies have all demanded greater
transparency from China.
But now, this key data is being examined
a full two years later.
And there's no plan as it stands for outsiders like the WHO
to be allowed in on it.
- In order to make it convincing and credible, the results,
I mean, ideally, you want to involve
the WHO or the foreign experts.
- I'm not completely certain that China
has not done this testing and has not shared the results.
- What we always say is trust but verify.
It surely would be better if the Chinese scientists would permit
external scientists to be with them to collaborate
to do this all together.
NICK PATON WALSH: But instead, this vital remaining
clue risks being mired in recriminations and uncertainty
again.
Two years, Jake.
Still two years now since the virus most likely,
according to a lot of the studies, got into humans.
We're still asking these questions.
It's not like China isn't extremely curious,
doesn't spend millions every year in trying to learn
more about viruses in general.
So you heard one of the experts touch on it there.
There is some skepticism as to whether these tests may not
possibly have already been done.
But great pressure for them to happen possibly again,
or for the first time now and for those results,
if not even the process to be made public
and shared globally.
Jake.
JAKE TAPPER: Nick, where does this leave the ongoing debate
about the origins of COVID?
NICK PATON WALSH: Yeah, I mean, look.
This has been a huge issue of geopolitical contention.
China's rivals pointing at it essentially saying that maybe
a lab leak was involved.
The evidence behind that not public.
And so this particular set of samples
could, if they revealed a cluster
around people near a laboratory, point to that.
But more likely, it's all about leading to where
the natural origins of this could have been,
the Southern supply chains of wet markets,
other places in China which are known areas where
the viruses could have spread into humans in the past,
and trying to dig into that.
That's what this is such a vital set of live clues for.
Jake. JAKE TAPPER: All right, Nick.
Thanks so much.
Appreciate it.