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A laboratory incident is "extremely unlikely" to be the cause of COVID-19, says a member of the WHO-China joint study team at the press conference
Chinese and WHO experts have completed their work in Wuhan as part of the global scientific research on the origin of the novel coronavirus, a National Health Commission official said at a press conference in Wuhan on Tuesday.
A laboratory incident is "extremely unlikely" to be the cause of COVID-19, says a member of the WHO-China joint study team at the press conference.
Liang Wannian, a member of the WHO-China joint team studying the origins of the novel coronavirus, said that in retrospect, the first COVID-19 case in Wuhan had no relation to the Huanan seafood market.
Experts from the team identified four hypotheses for the source of the transmission of the novel coronavirus to the human population, including direct zoonotic spillover, an intermediary host species, the food chain, and a laboratory-related incident, said Peter Ben Embarek, a member of the WHO-China joint team.
Initial findings suggest that introduction through an intermediary host species is "the most likely" passway and one that will require further study and more specific targeted research, he said.
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