Researchers say that a World Health Organization (WHO) report on the pandemic’s origins offers an in-depth summary of available data, including unseen granular details. But much remains to be done to establish the provenance of the virus — knowledge that will help to prevent future pandemics.
The report was the result of a joint investigation between Chinese and international researchers that included a four-week trip earlier this year to Wuhan, China, where COVID-19 was first detected.
The details in the report were helpful, but didn’t include much new information, says David Robertson, a virologist at the University of Glasgow, UK. “The extensive data presented confirmed a lot of what was already known, particularly on the timing of events and early cases in Wuhan.”
Challenges remaining include finding the animal that probably carried the virus from bats to humans, and determining how that spillover into people occurred.
Source: World Health Organization & Nature
