THE Philippines is neck-deep in its Covid-19 response that it has no time to delve into origin-tracing of the coronavirus disease.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said officials are “very busy” to even engage in politics.

“If the issue is being politicized as to the genesis, the origin, of the Wuhan virus, that is something that we are totally indifferent about because you know, we’re very busy about ramping up our pandemic response and we do not want to politicize the issue of Covid-19,” Duque said in a virtual press briefing on Friday at the National Disaster Risk Reduction & Management Council office in Quezon City.

Duque said the government shuns politicization of anything that has something to do with Covid-19.

“Whatever is being politicized by certain leaders, by certain politicians, we leave it to them.

“But as professionals, as men and women of science, we are governed by data, by science, and expertise of well-meaning partners from other countries and from development partners, “ he added.

The issue of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes Covid-19, blew up anew as the Chinese government rejected on July 23 the World Health Organization (WHO) plan to conduct the second phase of investigation into the origins of the disease.

In a news release on March 30, the WHO called for further studies and data on the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in China, but reiterated “hypotheses remain on the table.”

“From the very beginning of the pandemic, WHO has stressed the need to understand the origin of the virus in order to better understand the emergence of new pathogens and possible exposures,” the agency said.

Earlier this month, the WHO-convened global study proposed the second phase of studies into the origin of the SARS-CoV-2, including the hypothesis of possible laboratory leaks.

At the Member State Briefing on the report of the international team studying the origins of SARS-CoV-2, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the recommendation for further studies “to understand the earliest human cases and clusters, to trace the animals sold at markets in and around Wuhan, and to better understand the range of potential animal hosts and intermediaries”.

“Further study will be important to identify what role farmed wild animals may have played in introducing the virus to markets in Wuhan and beyond. The team also visited several laboratories in Wuhan and considered the possibility that the virus entered the human population as a result of a laboratory incident,” he said.

Initial findings of the team confirmed there was widespread contamination of SARS-CoV-2 in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, but could not determine the source.

“We will not accept such an origins-tracing plan as it, in some aspects, disregards common sense and defies science,” Zeng Yixin, vice-minister of China’s National Health Commission, was quoted by Reuters news agency on July 23. PNA