WHO names four versions of coronavirus transmission to humans

An expert group from the World Health Organization has examined four potential hypotheses of how the Sars-Cov-2 virus could have entered humans, said Peter Ben Embarek.

He leads the World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Report informs with reference to RIA Novosti that the WHO official made the statement at a press conference in Wuhan, China.

“We have put forward four hypotheses of how the virus could get to humans ... The first is direct transmission from animal to human. The second hypothesis was that the virus could be transmitted from an intermediate animal, potentially close to humans, in which the virus could adapt and circulate before transmission to humans. The third version is a food chain, especially frozen food. And the last is the possibility of a laboratory incident,” he said.

Embarek stressed that experts have carefully studied all the hypotheses. The most likely version is about the transmission of the virus through an intermediate carrier. WHO experts intend to study it further in the future.

“It is also highly likely that the virus can be transmitted through the surfaces of frozen foods. It suggests the possibility that the virus was transported from afar. The third remains the version about the direct transmission of the virus from bats. However, the transmission of the virus to humans due to laboratory leak is unlikely,” the WHO official added.