QCOSTARICA – After three years and almost seven million lives lost – including 9 thousand in Costa Rica -, there is still little certainty about how the Covid-19 virus infected humans?
Was it through a seafood market in Wuhan, China? Or did it escape from a laboratory? As the United States Department of Energy now believes, which has raised a political, diplomatic and media tinderbox since last week, when reporting the case, based on new undisclosed intelligence.
At this point, experts fear that, due to the tense atmosphere surrounding such investigations, “politics may prevent us ever knowing for sure,” according to Time magazine.
“The origin investigation is so politicized,” said Yanzhong Huang, a global health expert at the American think tank, Council on Foreign Relations, noting that the disclosure of the US Department of Energy report comes at a time when tensions between the US and China have increased in recent months, the diplomat added.
“It is becoming more and more difficult to find out exactly what caused the outbreak. I would say that now it is almost impossible, with all this delay, with the politicization of the problem,” the publication reported.
Since the outbreak began in 2020, researchers around the world have tried to determine the origin of Covid-19 with uncertain results, while conspiracy theories flood chat rooms and internet pages, while politicians in various parties make direct or prohibited accusations.
China has quickly tried to disprove theories about the leak of Covid-19 in a laboratory after the Wall Street Journal report last weekend, in which the US Department of Energy concluded with “low confidence”, that the virus that caused the pandemic most likely originated in a Chinese laboratory.
“There is not a consensus right now in the U.S. government about exactly how COVID started,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told te media during a recent White House press briefing.
“The work is still ongoing. There hasn’t been a final conclusion arrived at here. And not everyone in the intelligence community or across the government necessarily has come to a consensus view here on how it started.” Kirby said.
In Costa Rica, health authorities report 1.2 million cases since the pandemic began, while 9,230 people have lost their lives as of February 4.
Since President Rodrigo Chaves took office last May, vaccination against covid-19 is no longer mandatory, while health authorities began with the application of the fifth dose for people who wish to be vaccinated.
The Directorate of Health Surveillance, for epidemiological week eight of the year 2023, which covers February 19 to 25, 2023, reports an increase in cases of COVID-19, accounting for a total of 5,561 cases, which represents an increase of 441 cases compared to the previous week which registered 5,126 cases.
Health reports also that during epidemiological week eight, 15 deaths were recorded, with an average of two deaths per day.
