Animal source of coronavirus not yet identified: China-WHO joint team

The discovery of the novel coronavirus' viral sequence suggests the virus originated from the zoonotic transmission, but the host is yet to be identified, Liang Wannian, leader of the Chinese side of China-WHO joint team in Wuhan, said on Tuesday.

Liang made the remarks after the China-WHO Joint Mission, which consists of 17 Chinese experts and 17 experts from 10 other countries, concluded the China-part study on the origin of the coronavirus.

Identifications of the viral sequence showed bats and pangolin are not sufficiently similar to serve as the direct progenitor of the coronavirus, according to Liang.

Sequence data diversity of the coronavirus appeared in the early Wuhan outbreak, Liang said, suggesting there are transmission chains beyond Wuhan's Huanan seafood market unsampled.

(CGTN)