WHO: more study needed to determine origin of virus

The World Health Organization says an advance team looking into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak has concluded its mission in China, and the U.N. health agency has agreed to details of the deployment of a larger team - notably to the suspected outbreak zone.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday the "international team" would deploy to Wuhan, the city where the COVID-19 pandemic is believed to have erupted late last year.

Tedros said "terms of reference" have been drawn up by the WHO and China, but he did not specify.

Dr. Michael Ryan, the WHO’s emergencies chief, noted "gaps in the epidemiological landscape" and said the proper studies and data to collect would be assessed.

“The real trick is to go to the human clusters that occurred first and then to work your way back systematically looking for that first signal at which the animal-human species barrier was crossed,” Ryan said.

“Once you understand where that the barrier was breached, then you move into the studies in a more systematic way on the animal side,” he added.