The long-awaited results of a joint World Health Organisation and China study into the origins of COVID-19 has revealed that the virus probably spread from bats to humans via another animal.
WHO disclosed that earlier suspicions that the coronavirus possibly leaked from a lab in China were “extremely unlikely.”
The findings align with what researchers said last month, at the end of their mission to Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the first COVID-19 cases emerged at the end of 2019, and in their subsequent public comments.
The scientists proposed further research in every area except the lab leak hypothesis, the AP reported on Monday (March 29), citing a draft copy of the report, which it said left many questions unanswered.
The AP received what it said appeared to be a near-final version of the report from a Geneva-based diplomat.
It wasn’t clear whether the report might still be changed prior to its release.
The hunt for the virus’s origin has been shrouded in controversy since the start of the pandemic, with China criticised for delaying access to scientists and both Beijing and Washington pushing alternate theories about how the virus began.
The report’s release has been repeatedly delayed, raising questions about whether the Chinese side was trying to skew the conclusions to divert blame for the pandemic.
The WHO has said the results of the mission to Wuhan, which concluded more than six weeks ago, would be ready in a few days.
