Fabian Leendertz

Germany

Robert Koch Institute

Comments:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/12/16/world/who-virus-origins-probe/
“It’s about trying to understand what happened and then see if based on those data, we can try to reduce the risk in the future.” (Dec 16)

“There will be a report from that mission, but I’m pretty sure that (it) will not give the full answer.”

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20201223-who-wuhan-probe-not-looking-for-covid-gu...
"The meetings we had so far with Chinese colleagues were really productive and very good."

"My impression, at the moment, is that the Chinese -- on the government, but also on the population level -- they're really interested in finding out what happened."

"It was just bad luck that this was such a nasty virus."

"we should not have the expectation that after this first visit to China sometime in January, the team will come back with conclusive results"

He hoped that politics would stay "as far as possible" from the investigation.

Summary

Claims investigation "won't give the answer" - (so why bother?)
Praises CCP transparency
Puts the virus's super transmissibility down to 'bad luck'
Fails to mention lab-leak possibility