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The World Health Organization (WHO) chief said on Thursday that there was a “premature push” to rule out the COVID-19 lab leak theory without enough evidence. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged to reporters during a briefing that the theory that COVID-19 originated from a lab is possible, in remarks that strayed from the WHO’s controversial report designating the hypothesis as “extremely unlikely.” (Coleman, 7/15)

The head of the World Health Organisation said on Thursday that investigations into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic in China were being hampered by the lack of raw data on the first days of spread there and urged it to be more transparent. A WHO-led team spent four weeks in and around the central city of Wuhan with Chinese researchers and said in a joint report in March that the virus had probably been transmitted from bats to humans through another animal. (7/16)

More than 600,000 white flags will cover the National Mall in Washington, D.C., honoring each person who has died from COVID-19 in the United States. There have been 33,948,497 COVID-19 cases and 608,141 deaths in the U.S. The art installation, "In America: Remember," was created by Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg, who first placed white flags outside of the capital's RFK Stadium in October 2020. (O'Kane, 7/15)

Frank Luntz, the Republican communications specialist known for his Fox News focus groups, has for months shared research with the Biden White House to help develop its strategy for reaching people reluctant to get the Covid vaccine. In an unofficial capacity, Luntz invited members of the White House Covid task force into focus groups. He was also invited to be a guest on several briefing calls the White House held with TV networks where they discussed how certain terms used on air risked politicizing the pandemic, according to Andy Slavitt, who until June served as senior adviser to the Covid task force. (Korecki, 7/14)