WHO report says COVID-19 likely originated in transfer from wild animals to humans

A new report from a World Health Organization panel has determined that COVID-19 originated in China likely through “zoonotic spillover,” when a virus or bacteria is transferred from a wild animal host to humans.

That animal host, the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens suggested, were bats.

However, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that other hypotheses are still on the table, including one that the virus escaped in a lab leak. That is a reference to the theory that the COVID pandemic started with a leak of the virus from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

“Without information to fully assess the nature of the work on coronaviruses in Wuhan laboratories, nor information about the conditions under which this work was done, it is not possible for SAGO to assess whether the first human infection(s) may have resulted due to a research related event or breach in laboratory biosafety,” the report says.

The international public health association also took aim at the Chinese government for not being forthcoming with information it had asked for.

“WHO requested that China share hundreds of genetic sequences from individuals with COVID-19 early in the pandemic, more detailed information about the animals sold at markets in Wuhan, and information on work done and biosafety conditions at laboratories in Wuhan,” a news release states. “To date, China has not shared this information either with SAGO or WHO.”

The report noted that the panel “is not currently able to conclude exactly when, where and how SARS-CoV-2 first entered the human population.”

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