COVID-19 origins quoted by Swiss scientist is deemed false by Switzerland

Following the Coronavirus pandemic, several Chinese news websites have removed comments ‘incorrectly attributed to’ a Swiss biologist who does not appear to exist, according to the Swiss foreign ministry. As a result of the pandemic, a biologist identified as Wilson Edwards has been criticized for alleged US pressure on researchers. Chinese authorities and state media outlets have aggressively rebuffed criticism of China’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak. Several days ago, the Swiss Embassy in Beijing issued a tweet: ‘Looking for Wilson Edwards, alleged [Swiss] biologist, cited in the Chinese media. If you exist, expect us to meet you!’, the tweet read.

A statement attached to the post, written in both English and Chinese, stated no Swiss citizen named Wilson Edwards appeared in registries or academic articles about biology. Wilson opened a Facebook account on July 24 where comments attributed to him were posted. ‘While the embassy expressed appreciation for receiving attention, it ‘must, unfortunately, inform the Chinese public that this news is false’. Although we believe that the media and netizens spread this story in good faith, we ask that anyone who has published it, remove it and publish a correction’, according to the embassy post.

Pierre-Alain Eltschinger, a spokesman for the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs, said the statements were ‘misrepresented as coming from a Swiss biologist’. According to him, several Chinese newspapers have removed the comments since. There was still an English language reference on the Facebook account of China’s People’s Daily newspaper to an article from CGTN, the international arm of the Chinese state broadcaster, which cited Wilson.

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According to CGTN, Wilson and fellow researchers have been subjected to pressure and intimidation from the US and some media outlets for supporting findings in a joint study by China and the Geneva-based World Health Organization on the origins of COVID-19. Researchers released a study in March that offered several hypotheses as to how the pandemic started, but did not make any definitive conclusions.