What the WHO says on how to find COVID-19's origins, prepare for next pandemic

A panel of experts drafted by the World Health Organization to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare a framework to investigate future outbreaks has published its first report.

The panel, set up in October, comprises 26 experts from around the world and is called the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO).

Its work follows a previous WHO-China report on COVID-19, and a U.S. intelligence inquiry, both of which pointed towards a natural origin for the pandemic, likely from bats, rather than a lab leak.

The new report says a zoonotic origin is the most likely explanation for the emergence of the novel coronavirus. The first human cases were reported in December 2019 in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.