EU to back US call for thorough study of coronavirus origins

The European Union is reportedly planning to throw its support behind a U.S. push to investigate the origins of COVID-19 at a summit next week in Brussels.

Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that the United States and EU have drafted a statement, which they hope to adopt at the summit, that calls for “progress on a transparent, evidence-based, and expert-led WHO-convened phase 2 study on the origins of COVID-19, that is free from interference.”

The U.S. reportedly asked the EU to pledge its support to a study looking into the coronavirus origins, according to people familiar with the discussions between European diplomats in preparation for the meeting, cited by Bloomberg.

The draft statement, viewed by Bloomberg, also says the countries will “commit to working together toward the development and use of a swift and independent means for investigating such outbreaks in the future.”

The joint support for a study probing the origins of COVID-19 comes as countries are taking new steps to determine how the virus emerged.

A number of nations have called on China to be more transparent in providing data and access as public health experts work to determine if the virus was leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, jumped from animals to humans or was caused by something else.

Last month, President Biden called on the U.S. intelligence community to “redouble their efforts” to come to a definitive conclusion about COVID-19’s origins. He gave them a 90-day deadline.

Biden is set to participate in a U.S.-EU summit in Brussels next week, as part of his first foreign trip as president.