The novel coronavirus that started infecting the world a little more than a year ago most likely came from human contact with an animal, according to a team of international scientists lead by the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), with preliminary evidence pointing more towards a zoonotic virus than a man-made one.

The W.H.O. investigation team arrived in Wuhan, China on Jan.14 and after completing a quarantine period of two weeks, visited key areas in the Huanan Seafood Market, where the first known SARS-CoV-2 outbreak was identified, as well as the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was researching known coronaviruses at the time of the first outbreak.

Concluding the four-week study in the city of Wuhan, Dr. Peter Ben Embarek, the W.H.O.'s ford safety and animal disease specialist and leader of the investigation team, stated during a press conference on Tuesday that the virus's origin was most likely a virus that crossover into humans from an intermediary species, with possible origins ranging from bats to bamboo rats to pangolins. The study did not dramatically change the current understanding of the early spread of the pandemic, Embarek said.

The investigation team did not find evidence to back the theory that the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. This was a popular theory earlier in the pandemic that the virus had leaked from the lab, either by accident or on purpose, and started the pandemic's initial outbreak in Wuhan. Embarek stated that experts now consider the possibility of a leak to be so improbable that it will not be recommended for further study.

Moreover, the study did not find evidence of large SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks in Wuhan or elsewhere in China before December 2019, when Chinese officials alerted the global health agency of a new viral respiratory disease that has now killed more than 2.3 million people worldwide. However, researchers did find evidence that the virus had spread further outside the possible origin of the Huanan Seafood Market early on and may have been spreading reportedly before its was detected in Wuhan.

Speaking alongside Embarek, China's National Health Commission lead investigator Liang Wannian stated that ongoing investigations into the origin of the virus must focus on how SARS-CoV-2 spread through wildlife before jumping to humans.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki stated on Tuesday that the Biden administration plans to scrutinizing the data presented in the W.H.O.'s report since the U.S. government was not involved in the "planning and implementation" of the investigation. Psaki stated that the administration plans to independently review the global health agency's findings and underlying data.

Psaki added that while the administration has rejoined the W.H.O. under an executive order by President Joe Biden, the U.S. government plans to have its own team of experts looking into the virus's origins in China.