WHO says 'extremely unlikely' virus leaked from lab in China; concludes investigation in Wuhan

Wuhan, Feb 10: The World Health Organization team of experts investigating the origins of Covid-19 in Wuhan dismissed a theory that the virus came from a laboratory in China. Peter Ben Embarek, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) mission, said it was "extremely unlikely" that the virus leaked from a lab in the city of Wuhan.

 

 

Wuhan, in China's central Hubei province, is the first place in the world that the virus was detected in 2019. Since then, more than 106 million cases and 2.3 million deaths have been reported worldwide.

 

Embarek told their assessment to the press that initial findings suggest that the interaction to humans through an intermediary host species is the most likely pathway and one way that will require more studies and more specific targeted research.

 

As the team was wrapping up a nearly one-month long visit to Wuhan, he said, its investigation "had uncovered new information but had not dramatically changed the picture of the outbreak."

 

He added that work to identify the origins of the Coronavirus points to a natural reservoir in bats, but it is unlikely that they were in Wuhan, the central Chinese city from where the outbreak was discovered in late 2019.