Covid-19 origin probe: Team could face 'pressure', admits WHO expert

However, Peter Ben Embarek, who heads the probe team, insisted that the final product will have a 'unanimous' green light from all of the team's science-minded members.

Karan Manral | AP | MAR 18, 2021: The head of a World Health Organization team working with Chinese colleagues to finish a long-awaited report into the origins of the coronavirus acknowledged its authors could face “pressures” but insisted the final product will have a unanimous green light from all of the team's science-minded members.

Peter Ben Embarek, an expert on food safety and diseases that jump from animals to humans, said in interviews on Wednesday and Thursday that the team hopes the report -- now totaling some 280 pages and complete with graphs, dates and annexes -- will be ready for release next week.

The report is a first-phase study that is expected to be followed by a more in-depth look as part of guidelines set by Chinese officials and the WHO team.

Ben Embarek, who led a 10-person international team of experts that visited China in January and February, acknowledged that political pressures have loomed large over the virus pandemic.

“We are in the world that we live in,” he said. “It’s possible that there will be pressures from right to left.”