The World Health Organisation has reiterated that the Coronavirus was of natural origin after US President
Donald Trump claimed he had seen evidence it was made in a Chinese lab.
Scientists believe the killer virus jumped from animals to humans, emerging in China late last year, possibly from a market in Wuhan selling exotic animals for meat.
Trump claimed that he had seen proof that the Wuhan Institute of
Virology was actually the source of the outbreak, reports AFP .
Asked about Trump’s claim during a virtual press conference, WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan stressed that the UN health agency had “listened again and again to numerous scientists who have looked at the sequences” of the virus.
“We are assured that this virus is
natural in origin,” he said.
The WHO said that it wanted to be invited to take part in Chinese investigations into the animal origins of the pandemic, which in a matter of months has killed nearly 245 000 people worldwide.
“What is important is that we establish what that natural host for this virus is,” Ryan said, stressing the need to understand “how the animal-human species barrier was breached”.
Trump has suspended US funding for the WHO after accusing the agency of downplaying the seriousness of the outbreak and kowtowing to China.