A scientist who led the Chinese team at the World Health Organization in investigating the origins of the coronavirus said the WHO would shelve the theory that the pandemic originated in a Wuhan laboratory when the United Nations health agency released a report in the coming years. weeks.
Liang Wannian, who headed the Chinese portion of the joint WHO-China team, said the experts reached consensus on the start of the new coronavirus.
Although many questions about the disease remain unanswered, Liang said the oldest case was registered on December 8, 2019, and the Huanan food market played an important role in allowing it to spread, but experts agree that the virus is of “natural origin.”
“The most likely route of transmission was from the natural host to the intermediate host, and then to humans,” he told the Global Times, controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, in an interview published on Wednesday.
“It is extremely unlikely that the outbreak was caused by a laboratory leak,” said the team.
No further examination will be “focused on this area, unless there is new evidence,” said Liang.
He said that experts from 10 countries visited hospitals, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Huanan seafood market, and spoke with medical and laboratory teams, scientific researchers, managers, community workers, people who recovered from the disease. and family health care providers who died fighting the pandemic.