WHO Wuhan coronavirus mission over but much more work still to do
- Further research needs to be done both in China and elsewhere, team lead says
- Several options open to investigate how virus might have jumped from animals to humans, expert says
At their press conference in Wuhan on Tuesday, the team did not report finding any patients earlier than previously known or any infected animals.
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WHO ends Covid-19 mission in Wuhan, says lab leak ‘extremely unlikely’
Team lead and WHO food safety scientist Peter Ben Embarek said much work remained to be done, both in and outside China.
That included testing samples from blood banks in places with reports of potential cases in 2019, hunting for viruses in bats across Southeast Asia, and getting a better understanding of whether frozen products played any role in the introduction of the virus.
“The possible path from whatever original animal species all the way through to the Huanan market could have taken a very long and convoluted path involving movements across borders, travels, etc,” Ben Embarek said in Wuhan, wrapping up the mission.
During the long-awaited trip to Wuhan, the team spent nearly a month trying to understand how the virus that causes Covid-19 could have jumped from bats – where it is thought to have originated – to humans.