Overview

• WHO’s Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens released its June 27 report stating that existing evidence is insufficient to determine how SARS-CoV-2 first infected humans.
• The group found that most scientific data supports a zoonotic spillover, likely from bats or an intermediate animal host.
• Due to withheld information on coronavirus research and biosafety conditions at Wuhan laboratories, experts could not eliminate a lab-related origin.
• WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted China’s refusal to provide hundreds of early viral sequences and detailed market animal records as critical gaps.
• WHO emphasized that uncovering the pandemic’s origins is a moral imperative to guide measures for preventing future outbreaks.