Russia Keeps Investigating Coronavirus Origins Jointly with WHO

Russia is set to continue its cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) in investigating origins of the novel coronavirus, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement, released in the wake of the latest WHO report on the matter, TASS reported.

“The final report is a result of the entire team’s meticulous work. It reflects various opinions and approaches regarding origins of the novel coronavirus infection. It reflects our point of view as well,” Zakharova said.

“Importantly, the document outlines the path of further work and international cooperation in studying causes of COVID-19, such as joint studies of environment, zoonoses, genetics and immunology. We are ready to cooperate with our partners in those areas,” she added.

The final report of an international mission of experts on their visit to China in January-February in order to establish the origin of the COVID-19 agent was published last week. Experts have not reached a definitive conclusion on the origins of COVID-19.

According to the final report published in Geneva on Tuesday, the most likely scenario is the transmission of the coronavirus from one animal to another and then to humans and the least likely one – the laboratory origin of SARS-CoV-2.