SARS-CoV-2 did not escape from a lab, WHO investigators conclude
The team seeking the origins of the virus say it likely jumped from bats to another animal before infecting humans
The virus that causes COVID-19 likely jumped from bats to another animal before infecting humans, WHO investigators say.
The team of international and Chinese scientists on Tuesday wrapped up a four-week visit to Wuhan, where the first cases emerged, saying the evidence pointed to a “natural reservoir” in bats and an unknown intermediary animal species.
And the idea that the virus might have escaped from a laboratory was so improbable it required no further study, they said.
Professor Peter Ben Embarek, the food safety and animal disease researcher leading the mission, suggested the virus did not necessarily originate in Wuhan where a cluster of cases linked to the city’s Huanan ‘wet’ market emerged in December 2019.
