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The most likely origin of the coronavirus was transmission from a bat to humans via an unidentified intermediate animal species, according to a highly anticipated World Health Organization (WHO) report to be released today.
The WHO team states that “it remains to be determined where SARS-CoV-2 originated,” according to a draft of the report seen by Sky News, but the intermediate host hypothesis was rated as “very likely.”
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The possibility that COVID-19 escaped from one of the virus labs in Wuhan it was considered “extremely unlikely”, although it was not completely ruled out.
He rejected the theory that coronavirus It was deliberately designed or released by a laboratory.
The report hints at some of the difficulties faced by WHO researchers.
Detailed talks between porcelain and the WHO started in July last year, but the team of scientists only reached Wuhan, the initial epicenter, in January 2021 – more than a year after the start of the pandemic.
When the experts were quarantined, his schedule was strictly controlled due to “Chinese public health regulations”.
As a result, all site visits, meetings and interviews were planned and agreed in advance, according to the report.
Huanan Wet Market in Wuhan is in the bricked-up photo in September 2020
He offered new details about the work of the WHO team, particularly in the Huanan seafood market, which is responsible for a large group of cases and was initially thought to be the source of the outbreak.
The WHO said it had found records of sales of badgers, porcupines and bamboo rats, and that snakes, salamanders and crocodiles were traded as live animals.
However, he said, “Therefore, no firm conclusion can be drawn about the role of the Huanan market in the origin of the outbreak, or how the infection entered the market.”
The virus is believed to have jumped from a bat to an unknown animal that transmitted it to humans.
The report makes several suggestions for future research, including further tracking of wildlife farms in China that served the Huanan market and possible sources of viruses in Southeast Asia and other regions.
It seems unlikely that more WHO research will be done in China in the short term.
Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told a regular news conference: “I can’t help but ask, when will the United States be as open and transparent as China about the epidemic and the origin tracing problems?
“When will WHO experts be invited to the United States for a visit on tracing of origin?”
