BEIJING (AP) – A joint World Health Organization-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that transmission from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak of the coronavirus is “extremely unlikely.”
A draft copy was obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
The findings offer little new insight into how the virus first emerged and leave many questions unanswered, though that was as expected.
But the report does provide more detail on the reasoning behind the researchers’ conclusions.
The report’s release has been repeatedly delayed, raising questions about whether the Chinese side was trying to skew the conclusions.
The AP received a copy from a Geneva-based diplomat from a WHO-member country.
