The World Health Organization report said the coronavirus is most likely spread through an intermediate animal host. The report said the least likely source of coronavirus is a laboratory leak from China.
The study of a team of international and Chinese experts lists four possible sources of the virus. The most likely spread through an intermediate animal host, possibly a wild animal captured in a farm or a direct transfer from an animal that carries a similar virus, such as bats or pangolin. The report said it is not likely that the virus has come from frozen or chilled foods.
The US and 12 countries released a joint statement questioning the authenticity of the report. President Joe Biden said that the Americans “deserves better information.” Former US President Donald Trump had claimed that the coronavirus was created in a Chinese military lab in Wuhan.
“I think he believes the American people, the global community, the medical experts, the doctors — all of the people who have been working to save lives, the families who have lost loved ones — all deserve greater transparency,” Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, told reporters in a press briefing.
“As far as WHO is concerned, all hypotheses remain on the table,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. “This report is a very important beginning, but it is not the end. We have not yet found the source of the virus, and we must continue to follow the science and leave no stone unturned as we do.”
