Fauci calls on China to release medical records of Wuhan lab workers: Report
Even after booster shot, large gatherings and parties not safe, warns Fauci
Top USinfectious disease expert Dr AnthonyFaucihas called onChinatoreleasethemedicalrecordsof nine people whose ailments might provide vital clues into whether COVID-19 first emerged as the result of alableak, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
"I would like to see themedicalrecordsof the three people who are reported to have got sick in 2019. Did they really get sick, and if so, what did they get sick with?" the report quotedFaucias saying.
The origin of the virus is hotly contested, with USintelligence agencies still examining reports that researchers at a Chinese virologylaboratory inWuhanwere seriously ill in 2019 a month before the first COVID-19 cases were reported.
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However, Chinese scientists and officials have consistently rejected thelableak hypothesis, saying the virus could have been circulating in other regions before it hitWuhanand might have even enteredChinathrough imported frozen food shipments or wildlife trading.
Financial Times reported thatFaucicontinues to believe the virus was first transmitted to humans through animals, pointing out that even if thelabresearchers did have COVID-19, they could have contracted the disease from the wider population.