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WHO Report Says Animals Likely Source of Covid-19

Lihat Foto

Peter Ben Embarek (3rd-R) and Marion Koopmans (2nd-R) attend a press conference to wrap up a visit by an international team of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) in the city of Wuhan, in China's Hubei province on February 9, 2021. (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL / AFP)(AFP PHOTO/HECTOR RETAMAL)

Writer Dezy Rosalia Piri

Editor Dezy Rosalia Piri

KOMPAS.com - A joint WHO-China study on the origins of Covid-19 says that transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario.

A lab leak of the virus is also "extremely unlikely", according to a draft copy of the report, obtained by The Associated Press.

Overall, the findings are largely as expected and left many questions unanswered.

The team proposed further research in every area, except the lab leak hypothesis.

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The report's release has been repeatedly delayed, raising questions about whether the Chinese side of the study was trying to skew the conclusions to prevent blame for the pandemic falling on China.

A World Health Organization official said late last week that he expected it would be ready for release "in the next few days."

The Associated Press received what appeared to be a near-final version on Monday from a Geneva-based diplomat from a WHO-member country.

It wasn't clear whether the report might still be changed before its release. The diplomat did not want to be identified because they were not authorized to release it ahead of publication.

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The researchers listed four scenarios in order of likelihood.They concluded that transmission through a second animal was likely to very likely.

They evaluated direct spread from bats to humans as likely and said that spread through "cold-chain" food products was possible but not likely.

The closest relative of the virus that causes Covid-19 has been found in bats, which are known to carry coronaviruses.

However, the report says that "the evolutionary distance between these bat viruses and SARS-CoV-2 is estimated to be several decades, suggesting a missing link."

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