"There is more work to be done": the key conclusions of the WHO report on the origins of the covid-19 pandemic

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(CNN) --

A team of international scientists tasked with understanding how the coronavirus pandemic that causes Covid-19 began released its first report Thursday, saying all hypotheses remain on the table, including a possible laboratory incident.

The 27-member scientific advisory group convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) said available data suggested the virus jumped from animals to humans, but gaps in "key data" meant it could not be established. a full understanding of the origins of the pandemic.

The team, called the Scientific Advisory Group for New Pathogen Origins (SAGO), was formed last year to recommend further areas of study to better understand the origins of the pandemic and the emergence of future pathogens.

"Studying the origins of any new pathogen or pandemic is incredibly difficult," said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's Covid-19 technical lead for its Health Emergencies Program.

"There is much more work to be done, in China and elsewhere."

These are the key points of the report.

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Animal origins of the pandemic

Current data suggests a zoonotic origin for SARS-CoV-2, meaning the virus originated in animals and jumped to humans.

The most closely genetically related viruses were found to be beta coronaviruses identified in bats in China and Laos, according to SAGO.

"However, neither the progenitors of the virus nor the natural/intermediate hosts or transmission event to humans have been identified so far," the report says.

The group pointed to published research from animals sold at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, where the virus was first identified.

Between 2017 and 2019, the survey showed that several species known to be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, such as raccoon dogs and red foxes, were present on the market.

But those animals were not sampled in the studies presented to the team by invited Chinese scientists.

SAGO said more information has been requested about testing studies on these animals, as well as trace back to farms of origin and serological investigations on the people who raised and sold or traded the animals.

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the seafood market

Another area the group identified for further study is the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, which research suggests "played an important role in the early amplification of the pandemic."

Several of the patients first detected in December 2019 had a link to the market, with environmental samples from the market testing positive for the virus, according to the report.

However, once again, large gaps remain.

It is unclear how the source of the virus entered the market and where the initial transmission to humans occurred, the group said, adding that follow-up studies have not been completed.

"There is a need to screen environmental samples collected from specific market stalls and drains in January 2020 that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in areas known to have sold live animals," SAGO said.

"Other essential studies include detailed mapping of the luxury trade of wild/domestic animals sold in the city of Wuhan and Hubei province and the clinical history and seroprevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in humans and animals of the farms of origin of animals sold in Wuhan markets," the report said.

The leak theory in the laboratory

SAGO's preliminary report said it "remains important to consider all reasonable scientific data" to assess the possibility of Covid-19 spreading to the human population through a laboratory incident.

However, the group said "no new data have been made available" to test this theory and recommended further research "on this and all other possible pathways."

Essentially, because there have been lab leaks in the past and no new data is available, the group said this theory cannot be ruled out.

Three members from Russia, Brazil and China objected to this recommendation, "due to the fact that, in their view, there is no new scientific evidence to question the conclusion" of a March 2021 WHO report outlining the theory of the lab leak as "extremely unlikely".

That report came under intense scrutiny.

The US government raised concerns about its independence and credibility, and WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus admitted that its authors had problems with access to data in China.

However, experts have roundly condemned the theory of a laboratory origin for the virus, saying there is no evidence of such origins or of a leak.

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"We don't have the answers yet"

The team also had access to unpublished blood samples from 40,000 donors in Wuhan between September and December 2019, and reportedly tested them for Covid antibodies.

Their samples could contain crucial signs of the first human-made antibodies against the disease.

According to the report, more than 200 samples initially tested positive for the antibodies, but when retested they did not come back positive.

SAGO said it has requested more information about the data and methods used to analyze the samples.

Similarly, the group recommended further study of 76,000 Covid patients identified in the months before the initial outbreak in Wuhan in December 2019 and then discarded.

SAGO also said it supports more research anywhere in the world where there is "strong evidence" of coronavirus in humans before the recognized outbreak.

The preliminary report was based on peer-reviewed studies by SAGO, which was only able to assess information made available to it through published reports or presentations by invited scientists.

On Thursday, WHO Director-General Tedros said it has been two and a half years since covid-19 was first identified, but "we still don't have the answers as to where it came from or how it entered the human population." ".

He urged the importance of keeping scientific work separate from politics.

"The only way this scientific work can successfully move forward is with the full collaboration of all countries, including China, where the first cases of SARS-CoV-2 were reported," he said.

-- CNN's Katherine Dillinger contributed reporting.

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