WHO Director-General: An expert group will be formed to study the origin of the virus

, Aug. 4 (Xinhua Zhang Penghui) Geneva: WHO Director-General Tan Desser said Wednesday that WHO will set up an international team of experts, including Chinese experts, to jointly search for animal sources of the new coronavirus.
Tan Desser said at a regular press conference on the same day, on the origin of the new coronavirus and other issues, the recent advance team to China has completed preparations, on the basis of which WHO will set up an international expert group, including Chinese experts, to continue relevant research.
, who heads THE WHO's Health Emergency Program, told a news conference that a broader retrospective epidemiological study of the new coronavirus should be conducted to fully understand the link between cases. The study could begin with "where clustered cases first occur" to systematically look for viruses "the first signal that crosses the species barrier between animals and humans" before turning to animal sources.
stressed that although Wuhan was the first to report an outbreak of neo-crown pneumonia, this does not necessarily mean that Wuhan is the site of the spread of the new coronavirus from animals to humans. More data and evidence need to be collected to infer where the new coronavirus crosses the species barrier between animals and humans.