The World Health Organization is calling on officials in China to release data that may show a link between animals and the virus that sparked the COVID-19 pandemic.

The data was posted briefly on an international database but then abruptly taken down over the weekend.

Security guards stand in front of the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, on Jan. 11, 2020, after the market had been closed following an outbreak of COVID-19 there. Two studies document samples of SARS-CoV-2 from stalls where live animals were sold.

The data was from environmental samples collected at a Wuhan seafood and meat market in the early days of the pandemic. International scientists spotted the material online and made copies of it before it was taken down. The information appears to show that genetic material from raccoon dogs and the virus that causes COVID were found in the same swabs, implying that the animals may have been an initial host.

"A scientist on the team noticed the data come online by happenstance, and because they often check the GISAID database," says Alexander Crits-Christopher, senior scientist in Computational Biology at Cultivarium, a nonprofit group focused on open source tools for research. "She shared the data with an international team and realized the relevance and importance of the data. This team then immediately contacted the data generators in the hopes of open communication and collaboration. The team then immediately alerted the WHO about the presence of the data, and the WHO has helped mediate that communication. All three of the parties above have iterated a shared goal of making data and analyses as open as possible, as soon as possible."

The US envoy to China has called on the country to be "more honest" about the origins of the Covid-19 virus.

His comments come a day after US media reported a federal agency had found the pandemic probably started from a laboratory leak in Wuhan.

China's foreign ministry hit back that the global outbreak's origin "was about science and should not be politicised".

Washington-Beijing ties have been under strain since the US shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon this month.

Ambassador Nicholas Burns told a US Chamber of Commerce event on Monday that China needs to "be more honest about what happened three years ago in Wuhan with the origin of the Covid-19 crisis".

US media reported on Sunday that a report from the US Department of Energy had concluded in a classified intelligence report with "low confidence" that the virus was accidentally leaked by a laboratory.

The energy department had formerly said it was undecided on how the virus began.

Other US agencies have drawn differing conclusions, with varying degrees of confidence in their findings. The FBI in 2021 concluded with "moderate confidence" that the virus leaked from a lab.

Other studies suggest it made the leap from animals to humans at Wuhan's Huanan seafood and wildlife market.

An unclassified report released by the US top spy official in October 2021 said that four US intelligence agencies had assessed with "low confidence" that it had originated with an infected animal or a related virus.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Monday there was still no firm finding either way.

"There has not been a definitive conclusion and consensus in the US government on the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic," he told reporters when asked about the energy department's reported determination.

For most food products tested there was a "significant drop" in the levels of virus over the first 24 hours.

But in some cases traces survived for about a week, the University of Southampton team found.

"For a highly infectious agent such as Sars-Cov-2, which can be transmitted through touching contaminated surfaces and then the face, these findings are highly noteworthy," they say.

"The public may be interested in the finding that virus may persist in an infectious state, on foods and food packaging surfaces, for several days under certain common conditions."

But they add that there is no need for shoppers to take extra precautions when handling food - other than washing your hands before preparing and eating it, and rinsing fresh produce to help to remove any contamination on the surface.

They picked foods often sold loose at grocery, deli or bakery counters, such as apples, peppers, cheese, ham, olives, crusty bread and croissants.

The packaging tested included drink bottles, cartons and cans.

The amount of virus they applied was designed to simulate how much might land on food if someone who was infected coughed or sneezed near it, for example, because Covid is spread by respiratory droplets.

Breathing in infected droplets, rather than touching infected surfaces, is still the main way people catch Covid.

Anthony Wilson, microbiological risk assessment team leader at the FSA, said: "In the early stages of the pandemic, we didn't know much about how the virus would survive on different food surfaces and packaging, so the risk assessment was based on a worst-case assumption.

"This research gives us additional insight into the stability of coronavirus on the surfaces of a variety of foods and confirms that assumptions we made in the early stages of the pandemic were appropriate, and that the probability that you can catch Covid via food is very low."

Covid: Woman caught virus twice within record 20 days

A 31-year-old healthcare worker caught Covid twice within 20 days - the shortest-known gap between infections, Spanish researchers have claimed.

Tests show the woman was infected with two different variants - Delta in late December and then Omicron in January.

This shows that even if you have had Covid before, you can still be infected again even if fully vaccinated, the researchers say.

Based on that definition, health officials say nearly 900,000 people in the UK have potentially been infected twice with Covid up to the start of April.

It is difficult to pin down an exact number, because only whole genome sequencing can confirm the infections are caused by different strains, and very few positive tests go through this process.

The Spaniard did not develop any symptoms after her first positive PCR test, but less than three weeks later she developed a cough and fever which prompted her to take another test.

When the tests were analysed further, they showed the patient had been infected by two different strains of coronavirus.

In a presentation at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, study author Dr. Gemma Recio said the case highlighted that Omicron can "evade the previous immunity acquired either from a natural infection with other variants or from vaccines".

She said: "In other words, people who have had Covid-19 cannot assume they are protected against reinfection, even if they have been fully vaccinated.

"Nevertheless, both previous infection with other variants and vaccination do seem to partially protect against severe disease and hospitalisation in those with Omicron," added Dr Recio, from the Institut Catala de Salut, Tarragona in Spain.

The initial emergency of Covid may feel like it's over, but millions of people are still suffering from ongoing symptoms known as long Covid. So are we any closer to understanding the causes of this sometimes debilitating condition or to finding the best way of treating it?

Most people who catch Covid don't become severely ill and appear to get better relatively quickly. We do not know if there are any long term or long-lasting health effects, such as a lower life expectancy, reduced immune system response to other sickness. We are all guinea pigs, so to speak, and only time will tell what the long term effects of having Covid, or of having Covid more than once, are. 

Some people have long-term problems after recovering from the original infection - even if they weren't very ill in the first place.

What are long Covid symptoms?

Long Covid isn't fully understood, and there's no internationally-agreed definition - so estimates of how common it is, or what the main symptoms are, vary. These can be defined as symptoms that continue for more than 3 to 4 months which cannot be explained by another cause.

These can include:

• extreme tiredness
• shortness of breath, chest pain or tightness
• problems with memory and concentration ("brain fog")
• changes to taste and smell
• joint pain

This pattern will be familiar to many with long Covid. The core experience of long Covid revolves around three principal symptoms: fatigue, brain fog and muscle pain. But there is a long list of rarer symptoms covering almost every bodily function ranging from digestive problems to night sweats and depression to hair loss.

1 Year after Wuhan Virus Covid-19 emerged in Wuhan, China, China still has not let the WHO investigate! On November 25, 2020, China's official CGTN broadcaster says China has given assurances to the World Health Organization (WHO) that the body will be able to send a team to investigate the origins of the coronavirus "as soon as possible".  In late February, the Chinese, after covering-up their responsibility for the virus, from which they have made over a trillion dollars in profit, while other countries have suffered trillions of dollars in losses, finally let in a sham, hobbled WHo team which was too little, too late, and which was a disgrace. Shame on the Chinese and the WHO!

How disgusting that Communist China still has not let any democratic institutions (including any other country) or the World Health Organization into Wuhan to investigate the virus and its origins. They have had a year to cover up the facts, so that the truth can never be discovered with proof. This is a top reason why no-one should ever do business with Communist China again. 

Check the Official U.S. Government site at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) department of the National Institute of Health (NIH).

A doctor who diagnosed early coronavirus cases in China has stated he believes local officials covered up the scale of the initial outbreak.

Professor Kwok-Yung Yuen, who helped to investigate in Wuhan, says physical evidence was destroyed and the response to clinical findings was slow.

"When we went to the Huanan supermarket, of course, there was nothing to see because the market was clean already. So, you may say that the crime scene is already disturbed because the supermarket was cleared we cannot identify any host which is giving the virus to humans," said Professor Yuen.

"I do suspect that they have been doing some cover-up locally at Wuhan. The local officials who are supposed to immediately relay the information has not allowed this to be done as readily as it should," he added.

China has been criticised for its initial response to the outbreak, and for penalising a doctor who tried to warn colleagues about the virus in late December. In response, China has repeatedly lied and denied accusations that it withheld information about the severity of its outbreak. Furthermore, China has never allowed Western experts to conduct their own local investigations.

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