The WHO has for months been working to send a team of international experts, including epidemiologists and animal health specialists, to China to help probe the animal origin of Covid-19 and how the virus first crossed over to humans. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press briefing Friday that the UN agency was continuing "to establish the origins of the virus to prevent future outbreaks." "Today, a group of international experts had their first virtual meeting with their Chinese counterparts," he said. It is widely assumed that the virus originally came from bats, but the intermediate animal host that transmitted it between bats and humans remains unknown. "We want the best possible scientific outcome, generating the best possible evidence for the origin of this disease, because it is important."

Source: Dhaka Tribune October 30, 2020 19:18 UTC