The World Health Organisation, WHO, on Tuesday said all available evidence suggests that the novel coronavirus originated in bats in China late last year.
The global health body also said the virus was not manipulated or constructed in a laboratory, contrary to speculations in different quarters across the globe.
US President, Donald Trump, had said last week that his government was trying to determine whether the coronavirus emanated from a laboratory in Wuhan in central China.
“All available evidence suggests the virus has an animal origin and is not manipulated or constructed virus in a lab or somewhere else. It is probable, likely that the virus is of animal origin,’’ WHO spokeswoman, Fadela Chaib, told a Geneva news briefing.
‘’It is not clear how the virus jumped the species barrier to humans but there had ‘certainly’ been an intermediate animal host,’’ she added. (Vanguard)