Switzerland will not protest WHO Covid report on China
Switzerland refuses to be drawn into a growing international row over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
The United States and 13 other countries have condemned the findings of a recent World Health Organization (WHO) visit to China. They have demanded an additional investigation, claiming that China denied WHO scientists full access to sites and to data.
WHO says it is unlikely that the deadly virus came from a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan and is exploring the possibility that it originated elsewhere in the world before causing an outbreak in China.
Denmark, Norway, Great Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan are among the countries to have joined the US protest at WHO’s handling of the probe.
Switzerland will not be joining their ranks. “We were informed about the statement by the US. Switzerland has decided not to participate in this statement,” the Swiss foreign ministry told the news agency Keystone-SDA.
This confirms an article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper on Thursday morning.
The foreign ministry did not want to comment on speculation on whether Beijing obstructed the WHO investigation. Switzerland has decided to adopt a neutral stance as the search for more scientific information continues.
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