According to team leader Liang Wannian, the files were accessible to all scientists, but some documents were not allowed to be photographed or taken abroad because it is illegal in the country.

As he remarked at a press briefing, checking the statistics folder by folder was neither practical nor necessary for the investigation.

Regarding concerns about the delay in the study’s conclusions, Liang explained that the scientists had to draw up the text in English and Chinese languages, which involved many efforts to avoid omissions during translation.

Liang’s statement came a day after the United Nations specialized agency released the results of the investigation and in response to a communiqué from 14 countries criticizing the delay and alleged obstacles in obtaining data.

The inquiry ratified the origin of SARS-CoV-2 from bats and the hypotheses that the virus jumped from animals to humans either directly or through an intermediary host animal.

In addition, it included the possible role of frozen food and considered ‘extremely unlikely’ that the coronavirus was released from a laboratory.

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