A news report by Liu Haiying from Science and Technology Daily: 

On April 20, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom 
Ghebreyesus issued a warning at a news conference in Geneva, saying that lack 
of international solidarity is aggravating the current pandemic.

"Don't take this virus as an opportunity to fight against each other or score 
political points. It's dangerous. It's like playing with fire," he said, 
pointing out that without national unity and global solidarity, the worst is 
yet "ahead of us."

Throughout human history, various viruses have always lurked. Although the 
level of human science and technologies is constantly improving, sometimes we 
are still helpless in the face of viruses. The outbreak of COVID-19 is proved 
to be a fierce enemy. It's even rare once in a century for a pandemic with such 
rapid spread, wide transmission and profound impact.

Where does this current virus come from? What evolution has it undergone? 
Everyone wants to know the answers. Though we may not get them any time soon, 
the truth will eventually reveal itself.

Let professionals do their job. Scientific problems will always need to be 
solved by scientists. This is common sense. This is why the Office of Science 
and Technology Policy in the White House sent a letter to the National 
Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) as early as February, 
requesting it to rapidly solicit opinions from scientists regarding the search 
on the virus origin.

It is the responsibility of scientists to search the origin of the virus, and 
it cannot be passed on to others. Yet, scientists are not omnipotent and the 
research on virus origin searching cannot be done overnight.

Dr. Richard Y. Zhao, fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and a 
virologist at the University of Maryland, pointed out that the research on 
virus origin searching is a scientific challenge filled with great uncertainty. 
Scientists need to undertake an epidemiological survey, genomic analysis, host 
(intermediate host and natural host) screening and identification, field 
sampling, homology research on isolated virus strains, and final bioinformatics 
analysis and identification. Only after all these steps have been completed can 
they track back to the origin of a virus.

So, it's fair to say that the research on virus origin searching is a long and 
time-consuming process, and scientists should be given sufficient time to 
undertake their duties. Currently, there are many scientists all over the world 
conducting scientific research on this virus, and the research on virus origin 
searching is naturally a key task. Yet, the research is still in its early 
stages. 

There's a recent update of a significant research achievement: COVID-19 cannot 
be made in a laboratory, but is the product of natural evolution. It is 
possible that this is a natural selection of the virus to human or animal host. 
On March 17th, the findings were published on the journal Nature Medicine by 
six scientists from the United States, The United Kingdom and Australia, 
including W. Ian Lipkin, world-renowned "virus hunter" and profeesor of 
Columbia University and Kristian Andersen, associate professor of immunology 
and microbiology at Scripps Research, Robert F. Garry of Tulane University and 
member of the Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st 
Century Health Threats. They are regarded as authorities in academia, so their 
achievements in virus origin searching should be paid high attention to.

However, there is still a long way to go in terms of searching the virus origin 
from the perspective of science. The current achievements known to the public 
are still far away from the true answer.

As the global pandemic worsens, it is very important to take scientific and 
decisive measures to prevent and control the virus with a scientific attitude. 
Exploiting the virus and the pandemic as political tools not only does not help 
the prevention and control of the pandemic, but also will backfire, causing 
more serious consequences.

For this reason, many scientists around the world have called to treat the 
pandemic with a scientific attitude, to promote scientific demonstration, and 
to promote international cooperation. Under the circumstances that many normal 
scientific research activities in the world have been severely affected, the 
cooperation among different countries, and their scientists is even more 
precious.

As stated in NASEM's reply to the request from the Office of Science and 
Technology Policy of the White House, international scientific collaboration, 
which is already occurring, is more important than ever in addressing these 
research questions and overcoming global challenges brought by the current 
pandemic.

Source: Science and Technology Daily