Editor’s note for Tuesday, February 9, 2021

My thoughts today:

The head of a World Health Organization–led team investigating the origins of COVID-19 said that “bats remain a likely source and that transmission of the virus via frozen food is a possibility that warrants further investigation, but he ruled out a lab leak.”

Some voices in Chinese government will be happy with the inclusion of the frozen-food theory, including one former chief epidemiologist at the Chinese CDC, “who says that the U.S. should be [the] focus of the search for origin of the coronavirus,” per New York Times reporter Chris Buckley.  

We can expect more conspiracy theories about the U.S. origins of COVID-19 from state media. Here’s one prominent CGTN employee on Twitter:

Just going through some Twitter discussions, many say their family members fell strangely ill before first case of COVID-19 was reported in that country. They deserve an answer. Will other countries let in int’l experts and give full access? Transparency by all and for all.

Our word of the day is vaccine aid (疫苗援助 yìmiáo yuánzhù), which the Chinese foreign ministry said yesterday (English, Chinese) that Beijing is providing to 53 developing countries. 

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief