The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) leading emergency expert said on Friday that it would be “highly speculative” for the world health body to say that the novel coronavirus didn’t emerge in China, Reuters reported. 

Although the virus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December, last year, the Asian nation is pushing a narrative via its state media that the novel coronavirus existed abroad before it was detected in China. To back its claim, its citing the presence of SARS-CoV-2 on imported frozen food packaging. In scientific papers, it has claimed the virus was circulating in Europe, last year.

“I think it’s highly speculative for us to say that the disease did not emerge in China” Mike Ryan, the executive director of WHO’s Emergencies Programme, said on Friday.

Ryan made the remark at a virtual briefing in Geneva, on being asked if COVID-19 could have first emerged outside China, as per a Reuters report.

“It is clear from a public health perspective that you start your investigations where the human cases first emerged,” he said, adding that further evidence might lead to other places.

Ryan reiterated that the WHO intends to send researchers to Wuhan wet market, where the virus was first detected. All kinds of domestic, wild and exotic animals were sold there.

Since the coronavirus outbreak, the world health body has faced flak from the US President Donald Trump and his administration that has accused it of being “China-centric.”