WHO report says, COVID-19 transmitted from animals to humans, lab leak unlikely

A joint WHO-China study on the origins of Covid-19 says that transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is “extremely unlikely," according to a draft copy obtained by The Associated Press. The findings were largely as expected and left many questions unanswered. The team proposed further research in every area except the lab leak hypothesis. The report's release has been repeatedly delayed, raising questions about whether the Chinese side was trying to skew the conclusions to prevent blame for the coronavirus pandemic falling on China.

A World Health Organisation official said late last week that he expected it would be ready for release “in the next few days”. The AP received what appeared to be a near-final version on Monday from a Geneva-based diplomat from a WHO-member country. It wasn't clear whether the report might still be changed prior to its release. The diplomat did not want to be identified because they were not authorised to release it ahead of publication. 

On Sunday, officials of the Biden administration expressed their concern over a crucial report that examines the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. The administration suspects that there might be a possibility of the Chinese government's involvement in writing it. The findings from the World Health Organization's mission to Wuhan, China, in early 2021 will be ready in a few days. Earlier, the United States expressed it's ‘deep concerns' about the WHO report concluding the coronavirus origin probe in Wuhan. On February 13, US national security advisor Jake Sullivan in a statement asked China to turn in ‘raw data’ from the initial days of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. Sullivan's remarks came after an Australian infectious diseases expert on the WHO-led investigation team, Dominic Dwyer, told broadcasters in a live interview that China refused to hand over the data from the time when the first 174 COVID-19 cases were identified in Wuhan.