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Reuters
Reuters
Health

WHO expert in Wuhan says lab leak 'very unlikely' as COVID source

Peter Ben Embarek, a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) team tasked with investigating the origins of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), attends the WHO-China joint study news conference at a hotel in Wuhan, Hubei province, China February 9, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song

The head of the World Health Organization-led team of experts investigating the origins of COVID-19, Peter Ben Embarek, said on Tuesday that it was "very unlikely" that a leak from a laboratory was the source of the outbreak.

During its investigation in the central Chinese city where the virus first emerged, the team visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the subject of a number of conspiracy theories that claim a lab leak caused the city's outbreak.

(Reporting by Josh Horwitz in Wuhan and David Stanway in Shanghai; Editing by Gareth Jones)

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