WHO says all hypotheses are still open to investigate the origins of the virus

GENEVA (Reuters) – All hypotheses are still open in the World Health Organization’s research into the origins of COVID-19, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a briefing on Friday.

A WHO-led mission to China said this week it was not investigating further whether the virus had escaped from a laboratory, which it considered highly unlikely. The United States said it would review the findings of the mission.

“Some questions have been raised as to whether certain assumptions have been ruled out. After speaking with some of the team, I would like to confirm that all hypotheses remain open and require further analysis and study, ”Tedros said.

“Some of this work may fall outside the scope and scope of this assignment. We’ve always said that this mission won’t find all the answers, but it added important information that brings us closer to understanding the origins of the COVID-19 virus, ”he said.

The mission said its main assumptions are that the virus originated in a bat, although there are several possible scenarios for how it is transmitted to humans, perhaps first by infecting another animal species. .

The former administration of US President Donald Trump, who stepped down last month, said it believed the virus may have escaped from a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan. China has firmly denied this and said the Wuhan Institute of Virology does not study associated viruses.