WHO scientists say they have not found evidence that the Covid-19 virus has leaked from a Chinese laboratory, and it is possible that the cause of its spread is the trade in wild animals.
The Independent reported that the four WHO experts who conducted a month-long investigation in China insisted that there was nothing to prove the disease was intentionally developed.
Experts called for dealing with the threat of epidemics with the same danger of terrorism after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
In a brief statement by the Chatham House Institute, which specializes in analyzing and monitoring current international events, the scientists said that they found links between the live animal market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where people were first infected and the areas where bats were infected with viruses.
"There was a channel stretching from Wuhan to provinces in southern China, where the closest viruses to the Coronavirus are found in bats," said Peter Daszak. The most likely explanation for how Covid-19 reached Wuhan.
He added that WHO scientists and their Chinese counterparts considered that the most likely explanation is that the virus was transmitted to domestic animals or farmed animals.
He predicted that the world would discover "fairly soon, in the next few years" what triggered the epidemic.
The newspaper reported that it usually takes several years to identify the animal reservoir for an outbreak.
The team of scientists is due to release a report next week on the preliminary conclusions of their mission in Wuhan.
It is noteworthy that China has faced allegations that the Wuhan Institute of Virology may be the suspected source of the Corona virus.