The WHO says the report is not yet finished, but Liang Wannian, the head of the Chinese wing of the panel, told state media that the lab-leak theory had been deemed ‘extremely unlikely’ and would not be investigated further.

‘Future virus origins-tracing missions will no longer be focused on this area, unless there is new evidence,’ said Liang.

He added that the findings were the ‘consensus’ of WHO and Chinese scientists – denying that the report was delayed because of disagreements between experts.