The World Health Organization on Friday reiterated that the novel coronavirus which causes COVID-19 is "natural in origin." Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, told a virtual press conference from Geneva that scientists who are examining the genetic sequences of the virus have assured "again and again that this virus is natural in origin." Answering a question from the press, Ryan said that for WHO the real question now is what the natural host for this virus is and how the animal-human species barrier was breached. "The purpose of the understanding is that we can put in place the necessary prevention and public health measures to prevent that happening again," he said. Last month, the WHO said that all available evidence has suggested that the novel coronavirus has an animal origin, and is not a virus "manipulated or constructed" in a lab or somewhere else.
