Beijing, China - July 22, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Press conference in progress
2. Reporters
3. Press conference in progress
4. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Wang Chen, president, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College(starting with shots 2-3):
"This is a scientific and health issue of great importance and necessity. As you know, there are three important components of an infectious disease, one is the source of the infection, the second is the transmission route, and the third is who is infected and who can contract the virus -- the so-called susceptible person. These three links constitute the three important scientific links and elements for us to understand infectious diseases. The origin-tracing is related to the source of infection and the transmission route. Therefore, if the traceability problem is solved, we can answer where the pathogen came from, which is of great value to understanding the occurrence of this infectious disease, and has great reference significance to the prevention and control of other infectious diseases in the future."
5. Various of reporters
6. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Wang Chen, president, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College (partially overlaid with shot 7/ending with shot 8):
"The scientific community around the world is deeply interested in this issue. It is also a key issue that we need to pay attention to and worth exploring. But we should be aware of its considerable complexity, which requires a particularly objective and scientific attitude when exploring it."
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7. Reporters
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8. Press conference in progress

A Chinese respiratory specialist on Thursday stressed objective and scientific attitude on virus origin tracing as it has considerable complexity and is of great value to understanding the occurrence of infectious disease.

Wang Chen, president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College told media at a press conference on COVID-19 origin tracing, that the virus source, transmission route and susceptible person are three important elements to understand an infectious disease.

"This is a scientific and health issue of great importance and necessity. As you know, there are three important components of an infectious disease, one is the source of the infection, the second is the transmission route, and the third is who is infected and who can contract the virus -- the so-called susceptible person. These three links constitute the three important scientific links and elements for us to understand infectious diseases. The origin-tracing is related to the source of infection and the transmission route. Therefore, if the traceability problem is solved, we can answer where the pathogen came from, which is of great value to understanding the occurrence of this infectious disease, and has great reference significance to the prevention and control of other infectious diseases in the future," Wang said.

"The scientific community around the world is deeply interested in this issue. It is also a key issue that we need to pay attention to and worth exploring. But we should be aware of its considerable complexity, which requires a particularly objective and scientific attitude when exploring it," he added.