WHO advisers have urged China to release all information related to the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic after fresh findings were briefly shared on an international database used to track pathogens.

New sequences of the SARS-CoV-2 virus as well as additional genomic data based on samples taken from a live animal market in Wuhan back in 2020 were briefly uploaded to the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GSAID) database by Chinese researchers earlier this year.

According to the WHO’s Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), the sequences suggest that raccoon dogs were present in the market and might have also been infected by the coronavirus.

However, access to the information was subsequently restricted “apparently to allow further data updates” by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).