June 10 (UPI) -- Further studies are required to understand how COVID-19 infected the human population, an advisory group to the World Health Organization said in a new report that states more Chinese data is required to fill knowledge gaps and answer whether a lab accident is responsible for the pandemic.
The report was published Thursday by the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens, which was formed in response to a May 2020 WHO resolution to investigate the origins of the coronavirus -- a resolution that was spearheaded amid criticism over China's early handling of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The virus was first identified in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019 before spreading the world over, infecting more than a half billion people and killing 6.3 million, according to data curated by Johns Hopkins University.
The advisory group said in the report that currently available data shows that the closest related virus to COVID-19 has been identified in bats and that early investigations suggest a Wuhan seafood market played an important early role in its spread but that they require more information to understand exactly when and where it spilled over into humans.