In a statement Tuesday, the United States and its 13 allies expressed their "common concern" about the WHO report on the origin of COVID-19, and urged China to allow experts "full access" to all data.

The US government said with other countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Australia, Denmark and Norway, that it is "necessary to express our common concern that the study of international experts on the origin of the virus has been significantly delayed, and has not fully obtained the original data and samples."

The statement added that it is necessary to allow independent experts to have full access to all human, animal and environmental data, research and personnel that were involved in the early stages of the epidemic, which are important data for determining how the pandemic emerged, without explicit criticism of China.

The statement expressed concern not only to know everything possible about the origins of the pandemic, but also to pave the way for a fast, transparent, evidence-based pathway for the second phase of the study and for the upcoming health crises.

He stressed that the United States and its allies will work with the World Health Organization, unlike the previous US administration under Donald Trump.

White House spokeswoman Jane Saki said that the WHO report does not meet expectations and lacks transparency, saying that China has not provided any information that is useful in the face of a future pandemic.

Withheld data

For his part, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said today that there is withheld data on the organization's investigators who traveled to China to research the origin of the Corona virus pandemic.

The report stated that the virus was most likely transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, and it is unlikely that the virus leaked from a laboratory.

One of the team's investigators said that China had refused to provide preliminary data on the first cases of COVID-19 to the team, complicating efforts to understand how the global pandemic began.

"During my discussions with the team, they reviewed the difficulties they faced in obtaining the initial data," Tedros said, adding, "I expect that future collaborative studies will include the sharing of more comprehensive and timely information."

Tedros said that although the team concluded that a leak from a laboratory in the Wuhan region is the least likely hypothesis of the origin of the virus that causes Covid-19, a broader investigation is required, possibly sending other missions to China.

Earlier, WHO team leader Peter Ben Embark said in a separate online press release on Tuesday that it was "very likely" that the virus had spread in November or October 2019 across Wuhan, possibly leading to the spread. Illness abroad earlier than has been documented.

He said the team felt political pressure, especially from outside China, but was not under pressure to delete anything from its final report.