WHO says 'extremely unlikely' virus leaked from a lab in China

International experts investigating the origins of Covid-19 have all but dismissed a theory that the virus came from a laboratory in China.

Peter Ben Embarek who is the head of the World Health Organisation mission said it was extremely unlikely that the virus leaked from a lab in the city of Wuhan.

He said more work was needed to identify the source of the virus.

BBC News reports the comments came at the conclusion of a joint WHO-China mission.

Wuhan, in China's central Hubei province, is the first place in the world that the virus was detected.

Since then, more than 106 million cases and 2.3 million deaths have been reported worldwide.

Dr Embarek says the investigation had uncovered new information but had not dramatically changed the picture of the outbreak.

Experts believe the virus is likely to have originated in animals before spreading to humans, but they are not sure how.

[Source: BBC]