WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A wide array of U.S. experts will extensively review a World Health Organization report on the origin of the COVID-19 virus, with a focus on ensuring the investigation was independent and technically sound, the White House said on Monday.
“We have been clear that independent, technically sound investigation is what our focus is on, and once this is reviewed, we’ll have an assessment about the steps forward,” White House Presse Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.
A joint WHO-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that the virus was probably transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, and that a lab leak was “extremely unlikely” as a cause, a summary seen by Reuters said on Monday.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; writing by Andrea Shalal, Editing by Franklin Paul)
