]LONDON, U.K.: A World Health Organization (WHO) expert group investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic released its final report on June 27 with an inconclusive outcome: scientists still don't know how the pandemic began.

At a press conference, Marietjie Venter, who chaired the group, said most available scientific evidence supports the theory that the virus originated in animals and later jumped to humans. This aligns with the findings of a previous WHO team in 2021, which concluded that the virus likely spread from bats to humans through another animal. That group also said a lab leak was "extremely unlikely."

Venter noted that despite more than three years of work, the group couldn't obtain the data needed to assess whether COVID-19 might have resulted from a laboratory accident. They repeatedly requested hundreds of genetic sequences and detailed information about lab safety procedures from the Chinese government, but these requests were not fulfilled.

"As a result, we could not investigate or rule out the lab-leak theory," she said. "It remains speculative, driven more by politics than science." The 27-member group did not reach a consensus; one member resigned earlier this week, and three others asked to have their names removed from the report.

Venter also said there was no evidence the virus was genetically engineered or that it had been circulating outside China before December 2019.

"Until more scientific data emerges, the origins of SARS-CoV-2 will remain uncertain," she said, using the scientific name for the COVID-19 virus.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called it a "moral imperative" to determine the origin of the pandemic, which has killed at least 20 million people, caused over $10 trillion in global economic losses, and disrupted the lives of billions.

In 2023, an Associated Press investigation revealed that China had blocked both domestic and international efforts to trace the virus's origins early in the outbreak. It also suggested that WHO may have missed key opportunities to probe further at the time.

U.S. President Donald Trump has long blamed a Chinese lab for the pandemic, though a U.S. intelligence review found no sufficient evidence to confirm that theory. China has consistently denied the possibility of lab leaks and instead has called for investigations in other countries.

Meanwhile, scientists last year identified several animals—such as raccoon dogs, civet cats, and bamboo rats—as possible intermediaries in transmitting the virus to humans.