The delegation of scientists from the World Health Organization (WHO) who was sent to the Chinese city of Wuhan to conduct an impartial investigation was not able to pinpoint the exact animal source of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
At a press briefing held Tuesday, the WHO experts who visited China said, however, that some clues lead them to believe that the invisible microorganism, which has caused more than 2.3 million deaths across the globe, could have been transmitted by a mammal to humans.
No further information about these clues was given though.
“The reservoir hosts remain to be identified”, Liang Wannian, Head of the China team said, referring to the exact animal source of the SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
As to the date when COVID-19 outbreak began, Liang said they found “no indication” that it spread in Wuhan, a city in Hubei where the disease was first reported, before December 2019.
This analysis was supported by WHO Beijing-based foreign expert Ben Embarak, saying there no “large outbreaks in Wuhan” before that month.
According to AFP report, some scientists were raising concerns that the WHO group only spent an hour at the Wuhan seafood market where the outbreak was deemed to have originated.
Instead, the team reportedly spent more time at the Wuhan Virology Institute and in meeting Chinese officers, raising doubts about the impartiality of the investigation.
